To Be Champion
by rayningnight
Summary: Before Cynthia was the cool, collected Champion, she too was an aspiring trainer. Well, actually, not even that. Cynthia was quite afraid of Pokémon. Not because of the Pokémon itself — but because of different reasons — reasons long since buried. -—StevenCynthia, Blacksteelshipping or RileyCynthia, Rukarioshipping.
1. Blue, the Colour of Destiny

_**Summary: **_Before Cynthia was the cool, collected Champion, she too was an aspiring trainer. Well, actually, not even that. Cynthia was quite afraid of Pokémon. Not because of the Pokémon itself - but because of different reasons - reasons long since buried.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

* * *

**Battle 1: ****Blue, the Colour of Destiny**  
_Every trainer has a choice, to listen to that voice inside._

* * *

The bright morning rays sifted through the yellow-and-white striped curtains, streaming warm golden sunlight into the dim room. Golden curls peeked from the covers over a humane lump. Just then, as a brilliant sunbeam streaked itself through the slight gap of the drapes, shooting right into the half-opening, bleary silver eyes on a peering blonde head, which immediately awakened the teenager up.

"Nnnngh!...," the black-pajama clad girl cried as she hastily pulled the thick comforter over herself and curled into a Silcoon shape under the warm covers. But the damage was already done.

Cynthia was awake.

Cynthia was awake at the crack of dawn.

And Cynthia was not, by any means, a morning person.

With a muffled huff of annoyance under the soft pink blanket, Cynthia Shirona sluggishly sat up, if a bit grumpily. A palpable scowl was creased upon her would-be pretty features as she recalled a blurry but _pleasant _dream from the night, compared to her restless ones as of last week. They had been getting worse, but today, for once, it was a _nice_ dream!

She huffed and absently leaned her head to the side, barring her pale neck to loosen a tight knot from her awkward sleeping posture last night and locking gazes with herself from the looking glass on the blue-striped wall.

High cheekbones, heart-shaped jawlines and pert noses always ran in the blooded females of the distinguished Shirona family, and Cynthia was not an exception as she examined her bed-headed self in the mirror. However, to Cynthia's utter dismay, she was born with the dullest almond-shaped gray eyes anyone would ever see, unlike the startling big, blue eyes her baby sister received from their father.

It was so unfair.

On that note, it was equally unfair that she had the great misfortune to be spirited away from Grandmother Carolina – _right on my sixteenth birthday _– to go digging for old _rocks_ with Professor Rowan. Rocks.

Don't get her wrong, she _loved _the primeval ruins, ancient fossils and the ragtag objects the wizened old man found; but she would have much preferred to have stayed behind in Celestic Town.

Her uptight grandfather had finally, after _years__,_ permitted her to enter the sacred Celestic Ruins. She had consistently pestered Grandfather Kenshin to go explore the enigmatic sanctuary when she had turned ten years old, since that was the 'proper-age' for nearly _anything _in and around the Pokémon world, but Grandfather would have none of it. He had instead heatedly preached her (countless times) that _back in the old days _the 'proper-age' had been sixteen – _sixteen!_ – and that no pure-blooded descendant of his would stray from the rightfully practiced ways.

_Psssshhh. _An all knowing voice in her sniffed. _Mother already broke _that _rule._

Cynthia frowned at her off-track musings, and quickly shook her head to clear her thoughts. Without another thought, she then moved the pink bedding away from herself and lazily swung her legs over the edge of the twin-sized mattress and onto the smooth wooden floor. On a side note, she noticed a greenish blur on the dark-wood ground and quickly fisted her hands to rub away the sleep in her eyes. Cynthia stifled a weary yawn and stretched her arms up from the sleep-induced knots and kinks like a tired Delcatty. The bed-headed blonde tilted her head sleepily and silently scanned her room under her half-lidded dark lashes.

The small bedroom around her was, supposedly, going to be Lucas's once he turned six and began his schooling. With bright blue-and-white striped wallpaper, lemon-yellow striped curtains framing the windows, baby-pink sheets and bedding, and a forest green-sided wooden dresser, the colorful room was obviously meant for a younger child. However, the Diamond family was quite generous for lending her the spare room itself, and she would have politely declined for imposing the compassionate family if the fact that she didn't actually _have _another place to stay wasn't true.

It was all Grandfather's fault for coercing Professor Rowan that she had wanted to become a Pokémon master, be it coordinating or training.

However, Cynthia hadn't had an interest in Pokémon when she was ten, and she certainly didn't have an interest now.

Really, the creatures were scary by themselves! They spat fire (which could really cause a first-degree burn on you!), they radiated electricity (no, not small static, but _actual high voltage thunderbolts_), and they could even stir up a vicious _sandstorm!_

_A __**sandstorm!**_

Why would anyone want to cause a sandstorm_!_?

The blonde sighed, dismayingly slumping over in her seated position on the fluffy child's bed. _And now I actually have to choose one of those monsters as a partner for _life – _choosing either that blue bird thing, flaming monkey or big-headed green turtle._

Life was just _fantastic _for Cynthia.

Cynthia indignantly stood up, before a blur of sky blue caught her eye among the pink hibiscus garden outside her very window. With her interest piqued, she curiously treaded over to the slightly opened window with stealthy poise.

Cynthia raised her hands and brusquely forced the yellow-striped curtains open, letting the morning sunlight pour into the stuffy room. She smiled unconsciously as she saw a dewdrop trickle from a blue rose petal to a pink-hued one and finally to the small puddle bellow, setting off echoing, clear-blue ripples.

Somehow, the simplicity of the small happening and the sweet fragrance from the flowers was rather, and strangely, relaxing.

Wait.

Why were there two oddly colored roses in a pink hibiscus garden in the first place?

Cynthia shook her head, flicking her blonde tresses chaotically like flicking away her self-dubbed insanity and quickly casted her gray eyes back to the hibiscus garden to catch sight of the blue and pink roses – which were no longer there.

She blinked fitfully.

Pause.

Pause.

Pause.

Where did they go?

Suddenly she heard thumping footsteps which instantaneously made her turn to the bedroom entrance, supposedly where the little clouts exuded from, and she beheld the disheveled sight of a blue-striped pajama clad boy with a two-sizes-too-big red newsboy cap. Lucas Diamond grinned boyishly, and hollered over his shoulder seconds after he caught sight of Cynthia standing by the wide-open window.

"Cynthia's up!"

"Oh is she?" A faintly curious and motherly voice responded down the hall.

"Yep, yup! Lucas go to Barry's house? Dawn's already there!"

"Alright, but finish up your toast first, and change into some street clothes."

"Kay' I will!"

Cynthia exuded a small, warm smile as she heard the small exchange and saw Lucas promptly dashing into the kitchen. The boy was adorable. Suddenly she saw him sprint out of the dining room clad in brand new clothes, a twinkle in his eye, and a piece of burnt toast in his grinning mouth, as he childishly jumped through the door – all in a minute. The blonde blinked. How he did it that fast, or how he had changed for that matter, was _way _beyond Cynthia.

The tiny three-year-old had been (admittedly) annoying at first – with all his badgering about playing Pokémon cards and action figures with her – but she had somehow grown close to the little guy, and it seemed he had too for the past week, despite her generally polite and aloof mannerisms at the start.

After about a day wholly dedicated to him – since his mother had went across the town for necessary groceries and errands – the two bonded well, and Lucas was actually able to crack a smile out of ever-indifferent Cynthia. It wasn't because she was normally aloof to others necessarily, because really, Cynthia knew herself to be more friendly and easy-going _if _she got to know the other person or party better. _If._

Cynthia went over to the wooden dresser, side-stepped, and crouched down to grab her black suitcase of belongings. For the past week, she'd been borrowing Lucas's mother's hand-me-downs because she had left her bag in Celestic Town, but fortunately a Pelipper had dropped off her suitcase just yesterday.

Cynthia tilted her head. _Let's see, maybe I'll try on that new black tank-top I packed. It's been getting a little warmer now that spring's in the air. _She unlocked the metal clasp, and was immediately horrified.

Pink.

Frills. Lace.

_Short._

Cynthia instantly slammed (what she _thought _was) her suitcase shut, and shuddered.

What happened to her stuff? Cynthia knew she would never pack this… this… _pink. _She was a proper girl, who wore black, white, and mainly darker colors with the appropriate clothing. Maybe here and there, she would splash a bit of brighter color, but not ever, not in her _life _would she wear something so – so fully – _girly_.

It was like trying to separate a foster of tiny pink Exeggcute from each other.

It wasn't going to happen.

Cynthia moaned in despair, flicking her gray eyes out of the corner of her eye, hoping against hope that she was just being delusional, like those pair of roses today. It wasn't every day that she would misinterpret something – she was a bright girl, and no, she wasn't being egoistic – and already two misconceptions in a row would mean she was either sick or losing sanity.

She sneaked her peek at the suitcase.

Nope. She wasn't losing it, nor was she sick.

_Phoebe strikes again. _Cynthia sighed wearily and face-planted into her cupped hands, knowing all too well who the guilty culprit was. Cynthia's little nine-year-old sister always pestered her to dress stylishly in something, _'While you're still in your prime!' _before she became a 'stuck-up adult.' Of course, no one cared to mention that a person's typical _'prime-age' _was actually when they were in their twenties, and Cynthia thought the little blue-eyed blonde had finished the fashionista phase.

Guess not.

Cynthia frowned in thought, lifting a finger to her chin. _I suppose I'll have to wear one of Lucas's mother's extra clothes from the dresser. _Cynthia resolutely stood up, a determined glint in her gray eyes to find something suitable. The blonde pulled out the wooden drawer and considerably brightened.

It may not have been appropriate to sport something so warm in the beginnings of spring, and it may not have been exactly _right _to wear something so formal, but no matter – it was much better than the… pink.

The platinum blonde let out a small smile as she pulled on the black dress pants. They were a tad too wide at the ends, flaring out like olden-styled bell-bottoms and pretty much boot-cut size, but they at least fit snuggly on her thighs. _I'm _so _glad that I have nearly the same height as her._ Cynthia leaned over the open drawer once more, scanning for a top that could have been more appropriate in the warmer weather, and grinned as she slipped on the ivory-white, sweetheart neckline tank-top over herself. It was a size or two too big, made out of thin Mareep wool, but whatever. _Hmmm, but what if it did get colder? _Rayquaza, master of the weather trio Pokémon, seemed to be quite fickle at times, so Cynthia decided to snatch up a thin, black sweater from the drawer as well. It was also pretty big on her, much so that it was billowing past her waistline like a short cape, and oddly, it did not have buttons or a zipper. Cynthia frowned as she pulled up the long, jet-black sleeves to her elbows, and she absently pondered on a side note. _I wonder if Auntie has any sneakers to spare, since I think today's the day –_

Cynthia straightened as realization dawned and quickly glanced over at the circular, analogue clock hanging from the wall. _Six o' clock already! _Cynthia regretfully shook her head once, casted an irate glare at the bag, before twisting on her heel and scrambling into the hallway, flipping her irritatingly wavy, waist-length blonde hair over her shoulder.

"Ah! So you really did wake up!

Cynthia bashfully peeked past the entrance door from the foyer that lead into the kitchen and instantly caught sight of Lucas's mother, Kokiko Diamond, and another twenty-something or so woman.

The beautiful lady had rounded, midnight blue hair that reached her neck, a set of ocean-blue eyes on peach-white skin, and an elegant apple-shaped jawline. An Umbreon sat at her side while she had chatted animatedly with 'Aunt' Koki, and its striking crimson eyes had suddenly turned and _stared_ at her – as if into her soul – which had immediately stolen the attention of the mysterious woman, ceasing her endless prattle.

Once the blue-haired woman turned, Cynthia gasped audibly, and instantly realized exactly who the lady was.

"Johanna Platinum!" Cynthia's cheeks colored at her outburst, and she quickly lowered her gaze somewhat. "I apologize. I've seen you're Contest battles a-and well, I've been a sort of f-fan since my father forced me to watch the live S-Super Contests…"

Oh why did she have to stutter in front of _the _Johanna?

Much to everyone's surprise, Johanna beamed genuinely at Cynthia, and suddenly rushed forward to embrace the wide-eyed blonde, surprising everyone furthermore. "Oh you're so _adorable! _I can't believe you've been babysitting Dawn and the kids for so long, when you're still a youngster yourself! What are you, thirteen? Fourteen? You're quite tall and skinny for a young'un but you have such baby-like features!"

Was Cynthia supposed to take that as a compliment?

Fortunately, before Cynthia could muster up a response, Aunt Koki calmly stepped forward to save her from further embarrassment.

"Cynthia, darling, why are you wearing my clothing?"

Or not.

Cynthia forced on a polite smile, stifling the instinctive blush that was forming from the previous comment. "Well, Aunt Koki, you see… I think my little sister Phoebe messed around with my clothes cause' none of them seem to be… uh... mine."

"Is that so? Hmm, well it doesn't really matter. You can keep those."

Cynthia blinked. _Did I just hear that right?_ She crooked over to Johanna perplexedly, but the blue-haired woman was happily smiling benevolently at her, not exactly answering any of her silent questions, and the long-haired blonde was simply at a loss.

To clear herself from even _more _embarrassment, not that it really mattered anymore, Cynthia purposefully cleared her throat, mustering up another, brighter smile. "Err – _excuse__ me?_"

Kokiko smiled mischievously, an odd expression for an adult woman. "Well, Professor Rowan explained to me yesterday evening that he was going to give you your first Pokémon today!" she squealed uncharacteristically like a schoolgirl, "Isn't that wonderful? I recommend a Turtwig, their breed is the cutest grass-type out there!" She exclaimed as if she knew what she was cheering about, for a woman with no Pokémon as far as Cynthia had known.

"No, no, no! You simply _must _get a Piplup. Out of the three starter Pokémon Professor Rowan provides, the cute little Penguin Pokémon is _definitely _the best choice, especially if you're going to be going on this great Pokémon journey!" Johanna bubbly butted in.

Presently, Cynthia's already forced on smile was _really_ hard to keep a hold on. Simply put, the idle talk about her '_great Pokémon journey!_' was extremely daunting in itself. How would – no – how _could_ she pull it off? Professor Rowan wanted _her, _out of all first-timing Pokémon trainers and/or coordinators out there, to try and _complete _his Sinnoh Pokédex.

All 151 Sinnoh Pokémon – and later, including the ones from other regions.

That included more than 649 Pokémon.

That included those _Legendries._

All Cynthia wanted to do in her life was become an archaeologist, but _nooooo_, now she basically had to follow her mother's footsteps –

Okay, she was getting _way _off track here. Cynthia knew where her thoughts were leading, and no way was she going down that road again.

"Err, Aunt Koki, maybe I should get going soon." _May as well get this over with, _Cynthia thought grudgingly, but for some reason, a small voice in her head snickered. _You know you want to do this. Mama wasn't wrong. Don't deny it. _Cynthia ignored it, and mustered up a sweet smile, "I don't want to be late, right?"

"Oh yes, of course! You'll be starting your journey today!" she paused, and widened her eyes as if suddenly realizing something. "And I won't be seeing you for… for… a long time!" Her smile was immediately washed away, taken over by a tearful pout. "Oh how I'll miss you!" she rushed forward, embracing Cynthia without hesitation. "You've been like the daughter I've never had!"

Cynthia couldn't help but genuinely smile, and the blonde automatically patted the back of the pseudo-relative in front of her, as if in a slightly awkward consolation. "Yes, I'll miss you too Aunt Koki." And Cynthia meant it.

Kokiko sniffled once before she took a step back, lady-like hands still firmly holding onto Cynthia's shoulders, and Cynthia noticed as the black-haired woman in front of her forced on a smile that stated she really, truly would miss Cynthia, and that all of this wasn't one of her daily melodramatic routines.

"You take care of yourself, you hear?" Kokiko lectured affectionately, her once bright smile waning, before something again appeared to occur to her. "Oh! You'll need some travel money – Here," she seemed to have magically conjured up the wad of pokédollars and stuffed them into a medium-sized black shoulder bag that had been hanging from a tall, counter-top chair. "Take this…"

"Oh I can't!" Cynthia argued instantly. How could she take that generous amount and expensive-looking travelling bag when she had already leeched off them for the past week?

"No, no. I insist! You see, the money here –"

"– was saved from Koki and I when we were younger!" Johanna suddenly cut in, smile bright as ever. "This money was earned with blood and sweat, sweetheart, when battling against tough opponents. Contests and battles are heard, you know. Oh! In fact, I also have a gift!" She went to her lilac-hued plump purse that had been sitting next to her Umbreon for the last minutes or so.

Cynthia furrowed her brows. _Why would _the _Johanna want to gift a stranger something?_ _In fact... why would she give..._

Johanna brightened as it seemed she found what she was looking for, and she pulled out two decorated hair elastics. Cynthia blinked as she drank in the sight of them. There were two black elastics, both with two enormous black dewdrop-like decorations with bright, sunshine yellow stripes lining each of them. Surprisingly, they were strikingly similar to the ears of the impassive, now-yawning Umbreon next to Johanna.

The blue-haired woman grinned triumphantly. "I bought these elastics to match Umbreon for a contest years back, but I only realized after I bought them that I can't wear any hair adornments other than hairclips with this hairstyle," she flipped her rounded hair over her shoulder as if justifying her case. "So I would like you to have them!"

If it hadn't been the renowned Johanna, Cynthia would have declined the odd-looking hair décors. Instead, she mustered up a smile, and took the large items from the earnest-looking woman. "Yes – err, I'll be sure to wear them."

"Why don't you try them on now?" Johanna batted her big blue eyes.

Cynthia bit the inside of her cheek, but she couldn't say no to that puppy-eyed look. "Err…" she sighed in defeat, "Okay."

She held the two hair decorations by the elastic in her teeth as she pulled up her hair into a tight, high Ponyta-tail. She hated Tepigtails – it made her look even more kiddy – but she was slightly annoyed when she lost hold of her long bangs, which fell over one of her gray eyes, and when the curling fringes of her blonde hair loosened from the ponytail to frame her face. Cynthia mentally sighed before using one hand to take an elastic from her mouth to tie up her hair, and finally taking the other elastic to hold the first one in place.

Johanna clapped childishly. "Now you look like a real performer!"

Again, was Cynthia supposed to take that as a compliment?

Kokiko nodded encouragingly, a smile playing at her lips. "Alright," she flicked her gaze at Cynthia's feet, "let's get you some shoes before you head over to Professor Rowan's in socks!"

The trio headed to the entryway, and Kokiko pulled open the closet at the end before gasping. "Oh no!" the other two rushed to her side, Cynthia being confused and Johanna being curious, as Kokiko turned to Cynthia apologetically, "it's seems I don't have any shoes to spare, darling. Only these two inch heeled boots," Kokiko positioned the plain black, upper calf length court shoes onto the entrance's tiling, "and these plastic flip-flops," and placed the neon-orange and white sandals next to the heels.

Cynthia frowned at the sight of both of them. _I can't go trudging around Sinnoh in _two-inch heels _but I'll get sore blisters with plastic flip-flops…_

"Take the boots," Johanna interrupted Cynthia's thoughts, and the blue-haired woman smiled. "And show the world how tough a girl can be!"

…_in two inch heels? _Cynthia thought incredulously, giving Johanna an odd look. _I can sort of understand the elastics, but the _heels_…?_

It was probably the most girlish thing Cynthia would ever wear.

Cynthia sighed dolefully, glanced over at the two women to check if they changed their minds, and miserably slipped on the tactless footwear. She wasn't sure if it had been fortunate that the dress pants were boot-cut or not.

Kokiko smiled guiltily at the sight, "Sorry darling for this parting gift, but I had already given away my only pair of sneakers to my visiting cousin, a week back, and I had been content with wearing flats for the weeks thereafter. I didn't think I would need any runners these days and…" She trailed off despondently.

Cynthia instantly felt bad for her gloominess. It wasn't Aunt Koki's fault, and in fact, Cynthia should have been grateful for getting shoes in the first place!

"Oh it's all right Aunt Koki! See," Cynthia stood up, if a bit wobbly, as she tried her best to stay balanced in the boots, "I can do this just fine!"

The two women smiled at Cynthia's effort, and suddenly rushed forward into an embrace, nearly toppling the poor blonde. Kokiko began tearfully, "I'll miss you darling! It's been fun for the last four days!"

"Even though I just met you... I'll miss you sweetheart!" Johanna added kindly as some strange emotion entered her blue gaze.

Cynthia grinned radiantly, tightened her ponytail, swung her new bag over her head and onto her shoulder, and waved goodbye as she exited the house, "I'll visit when I can!"

~oOo~

Cynthia was lost.

There was no denying it any longer. Yes, even with a tiny geological map of a route she had taken several times, and probably the smallest road between two settlements – Twinleaf Town and Sandgem Town – Cynthia was completely and utterly lost.

The caring Twinleaf villagers who had been seeing her off had instructed her to continue on through the naturally trampled trail to get to Sandgem Town, or else she'd be confronted by Wild Pokémon. Cynthia did not have any Pokémon to protect her, nor did she have any pokéballs in her bag to catch any, so she knew she wouldn't stand a chance against the wild Pokémon around the trail, no matter how weak they were.

Really, it was too bad that no one in Sandgem Town had an empty room to spare her. If someone did, she wouldn't have had to leech off of the kind Diamond household, Professor Rowan's family as it turned out (Lucas's father if Cynthia remember correctly was Professor Rowan's son). If someone did, she wouldn't have had the need to foolishly trek (in wobbly _high heels_) through the untamed Pokémon habit just to get to Professor Rowan's laboratory. If someone did, she wouldn't have caught sight of a flock of Starly, Staravia and Staraptor feeding off a small razzberry bush _in the middle of the trail._

If someone did, she wouldn't have gotten miserably _lost._

Cynthia looked up anxiously as she detected a faint rustle in the thick undergrowth behind the dauntingly large trees surrounding her. Cynthia quickly recoiled as she saw a small Bidoof pop its head up, frankly staring at her with tiny, curious eyes. The little Pokémon cocked its head to the side, as if looking past her, before it nodded giddily and dashed off in the opposite direction like no tomorrow.

Cynthia released a breath that she hadn't known she was holding, and immediately felt guilty.

It wasn't that she was disgusted with Pokémon – in fact, she'd sort of befriended a little Budew when it had stumbled into the sandbox during one of the babysitting sessions with Lucas, freaking Cynthia out. Surprisingly, it turned out that Budew had sprained one of its stubby little legs, so caring, five-year-old Lucas took the initiative to take care of it – by making Cynthia take care of it.

Somehow, Cynthia had grown used to the little guy after the first two days – despite being completely terrified of the Bud Pokémon at first – and she'd actually been relatively sentimental when Lucas and she'd waved it goodbye as it frolicked back towards its supposed family on their final day of care. Cynthia had known that the green Pokémon hadn't liked her very much at first, only tolerating her for the cheery smiles of Lucas, but she'd assumed Budew had grown used to her as well once she'd seen its determined demeanor whenever she needed help on their third day together – like sweeping the house.

It hadn't, because it _also_ left her.

Cynthia tightly gripped her bag strap, and backtracked in her mind's eye, deciding to distract her obviously dead-ended contemplations.

_Okay, I had walked out of Twinleaf town, walked around the tall grasses, passed Lake Verity – though I really wished I could have stayed and checked out the mysterious area. I mean, I heard about a small myth that had originated from the Lake and I think I saw a bluish glow emanating from the – okay, I'm getting sidetracked. _Cynthia shook her head restlessly, as if it could clear her distracted contemplations, and thought determinedly. _Then I backtracked my sightseeing and took the road to Sandgem Town and saw a flock of bird Pokémon in the middle of the road and quickly ran… east (?) into the thick forest… and… now… I'm here._

Cynthia sighed dejectedly, slumping over from her usual perfect posture as she kept walked forward. _Well that helped._

Suddenly she saw a sunlit break in the woodland trees, and brightened considerably once she heard a male – a _human_ male – voice. Cynthia promptly sprinted with a grateful and open-mouthed smile.

"You're such an imprudent, ungrateful monster."

_Well _that's_ a nice way to greet someone._ Cynthia thought dryly, before her gray eyes finally adjusted to the bright sunlight.

As it turned out, beyond the shady forest was a tranquil beach, with calm salt-smelling waves rushing onto the beautiful sandy shores – almost like the perfect picture of serenity. But the image was ruined. A young man stood stock-straight with narrowed brows and a crow-like Pokémon on his wide-set shoulder, three or four feet in front of a small, badly battered up, shark-like Pokémon in the middle of the peaceful setting. The impassive man seemed to be in his early twenties, perhaps twenty-one or twenty-two, with cold, calculative black eyes and spikey slate-blue hair. Cynthia felt a sudden chill run up her spine as the seemingly emotionless man turned his serious dark eyes from the blue-skinned, yellow-bellied, mini-shark Pokémon at his feet to her.

"And who are you?" his husky voice was alluring, a seductive tone that could easily have made many fall at his feet, but Cynthia only felt goose bumps riding up her sweater-clad arms.

"No, who are you? And what are you doing?" Cynthia narrowed her eyes and instinctively evaded his question, firing two of her own. She did not trust the blue-haired stranger.

The man smirked humorlessly and cocked his head to get a better look at her. "I came to Sandgem Beach, what I thought was the most unvisited place closest to my destination, to teach Gible here a lesson as to what happens when he loses a battle." He swept his bottomless ebony gaze to the Pokémon before him.

It was basically _dying _in front of him. Cynthia could make out the black-and-blue bruises and small lumps that swam up the cyan striped, royal blue-skinned Pokémon's hunched back and tangled limbs. Its black eyes were squeezed tightly into a painful squint, glaring defiantly and almost hatefully at the man standing uncaringly above it. Cynthia had always been a great observer, and at the moment, she knew her eyes weren't tricking her when she saw the trusting emotion deep in the Pokémon's black orbs slowly breaking down to nothingness. Trust that was barely there in the first place.

The blue-haired man blinked impassively.

"Murkrow – Drill Peck."

The blue-black bird on his broad shoulder swiftly swooped, arching upwards to gain velocity with its hooked-beak glowing white, before the Pokémon began spinning downwards directly at the mini-shark. Before Cynthia could muster out a shout to stop, the black bird Pokémon – now identified as Murkrow – drilled right into the blue-skinned Pokémon. The small shark flinched responsively, and strained desperately to hoist itself up on short, stubby knees.

But the little Pokémon clumsily tripped before it could take its first step away.

"**Gi-giiii!" **the shark Pokémon howled in gruesome agony, seconds after the sharp-edged beak drilled into it, and Cynthia visibly winced at the tormented sound. However, she couldn't draw her disgusted gaze away nor could she move her seemingly immobile legs, no matter how cruel the episode in front of her became. From Cynthia's frozen standing point, she witnessed helplessly the silent tears the baby shark fought against in its defiantly determined black eyes.

_Move your feet Cynthia! That Pokémon needs help! _Her mind seeminly screamed at her.

The Land Shark Pokémon was finally forced into the air – hit surprisingly effectively once the Murkrow drilled a second time before it smugly returned to its master – and landed painfully onto the sandy floor on its yellow stomach with flailing limbs. Newly formed bumps and bruises could be seen from its yellow torso and lower abdomen, and Cynthia's eyes welled up as she was finally pushed to her limit.

"_What in Arceus's name are you doing!_?" Cynthia shrieked disbelievingly at the man, her dead-weight legs finally mobile and sprinting as quickly as she could towards the gravely hurt Pokémon.

Sure, Cynthia may not have liked Pokémon very much – in fact, she was quite afraid of the majority of them – but, really, the poor little guy was hurt even beyond a normal battle experience. The mini-shark was _bleeding – _even high-leveled Pokémon battles didn't attack until one was bleeding – bruised, bumped and its little left arm didn't seem to be bent the right way! (Cynthia noticed that he had a small Focus Sash tied on its abnormally-bent arm, woven in blue to match its skin instead of the typical red and yellow, which was probably the reason why the Land Shark couldn't faint.) Why would anyone want to hurt a Pokémon this badly – or at all even? This wasn't even a battle between aspiring trainers! The man was purposefully harming his _own _Pokémon!

"No, the question is, what are _you _doing," the blue-haired man stated monotonously, slashing Cynthia's shocked contemplations in half. "I can treat my Pokémon however I want. I'm only teaching Gible a lesson, not giving her a punishment. Pokémon recover quicker and better than us humans girl, _it's not like the damage will be permanent_." He patronizingly emphasized each word, as if talking to a small child.

Cynthia glared heatedly and gaped incredulously at him. "A _lesson? _How in Arceus's name is this a lesson_!_? You're basically torturing the little – Gible!" Cynthia automatically stitched on what the shark Pokémon's name supposedly was to emphasize her point, pulling the suffering creature into her safe arms protectively.

The blue-haired man sighed, rubbing his temples as if this situation was vexing _him. _"This is such a waste of my precious time," he glanced over at Cynthia with exaggeratedly tired eyes. "Girl, you need to learn to butt out of other trainers' business."

A surge of anger engulfed Cynthia and she furiously rolled up her black-sweater sleeves. "Butt out? _Butt out? _How could I butt out when I see some spikey blue-haired, wannabe rock-star torturing –"

"Cyrus."

Cynthia whirled onto him, face colouring in anger. "What?"

"I'm not some 'spikey blue-haired wannabe rock-star,'" he stated while he slipped his hands into his pockets, his dark eyes bored as he stared at Cynthia. "The name's Cyrus."

Before Cynthia could carry on her disbelieving rant, Cyrus continued uninterestedly, "You know what girl? I have already wasted enough of my time here."

With that he threw a pokéball into the air, and a bluish light radiated from the still-suffering Gible before it was swallowed by the red and white ball. Cyrus smoothly snatched the ball back from the sky, and slipped it into his pocket before turning his dark eyes onto Cynthia once more. "There, I released her. You can do what you want with it now. I've found other, _stronger_ shiny Pokémon anyway." Cyrus clarified with boredom as he twisted on his heel and sauntered over the sands to the sea water. He raised his arm perpendicular to his body, and Cynthia noticed the small blue pokéball with two hints of red cupped in his outstretched hand.

"Gyarados – Surf."

A crimson glowing silhouette appeared in the shallow saltwater from the opened sphere before a _ginormous_ blue serpent-dragon-thing took form, its sharp fangs frightening Cynthia instantly once she caught sight of its large, wide-opened mouth.

Cyrus absently crooked his head to the pony-tailed, oddly formal dressed blonde as he effortlessly leaped onto the intimidating Gyarados, his dark eyes blinking blankly into her gray. "I would like to say it was a pleasure to meet you, but really – it wasn't."

With that, the Gyarados brazenly speeded away, and it was only a few minutes afterwards that Cynthia was able to see a small blue speck that must have been him in the distance.

"**Gi-Giii-Gi-i-ible."**

Cynthia looked down curiously before horrifically realizing the painful and vulnerable sounds were being emitted from the still-suffering shark Pokémon in her arms.

"Oh my Mew! I'm so, so, so sorry. I'll get you to the clinic – I mean Pokémon Center right away, okay?" the Gible glanced up at her skeptically with unreserved suspicion, even though she was still very much in need of the medical care. Cynthia quietly deduced without a second thought that the small Pokémon had been under Cyrus's cruel treatment for a long time by the almost hollow look in her dark, unblinking eyes. Cynthia looked at the blue and yellow Pokémon earnestly, "Please, at least for now, trust me?"

The Gible mutely stared at her with pain openly present in her black eyes, before she let her eyelids quietly close.

Cynthia took the gesture as approval, and swept Gible into her arms, mindful for its injuries and still-shaking body, before something dawned in her mind.

She was still lost.

Cynthia sighed in exasperated frustration, and was about to mindlessly jump back into the maze-like woodlands, before she suddenly recalled a sentence Cyrus had said.

"_I came to Sandgem Beach, what I thought was the most unvisited place closest to my destination, to teach Gible here a lesson…"_

Sandgem Beach!

Cynthia spun around sharply, and suddenly caught sight of the obviously well-used, sandy pathway on the shoreline. She beamed gratefully as she saw a small, wooden sign that read: _Sandgem Town_ (an up arrow) and _Sandgem Beach_ (and a down arrow). Cynthia promptly sprung herself into a quick sprint – somehow, after the few hours of being lost, and this worrisome predicament, she'd gotten a bit used to running in high heeled boots – down the compacted path, hopeful to find a Pokémon Center for the poor Gible in her arms.

Cynthia quickly increased her speed when she felt the small Pokémon stop breathing.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

**(18/05/2012): **Cliffhanger! LOL, I've always wanted to start a story with one. I don't know exactly when I'll update (most of my stories are never updated, and I wouldn't mind if someone else took over the story thereafter) and I don't know if anyone will like this story in the first place. Oh yeah, just so you all know, Cynthia's Garchomp actually _was _a shiny. Look up shiny Garchomp and it'll match Cynthia's Garchomp's colours from the anime and the manga. However, in the games, for some reason it was a normal Garchomp. Anyway, should I continue? Or will this be the end of Cynthia's (mis)adventures?

**(PS)**: This story either going to be a CynthiaXSteven _or_ CynthiaXRiley. (I think CynthiaXSteven is Lolishotashipping, but what's the one for her and Riley?) I'm also debating over one with Lance. Oh well, the romantic stuff is going to be on later in the story anyway. I'm also going to be working with Cynthia's quest, so hold on tight. And before anyone asks, no, Cynthia will not be travelling alone. You'll soon see who her travelling company will be… later. (And no, they won't be OCs other than random trainers.)


	2. Enter Steven, the Rock Maniac

**Author's Notes: **There will be some instances where I'll switch from Cynthia's point of view to someone else's to show some depth and so you readers will understand stuff, but this story will ultimately be in Cynthia's viewpoint.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

* * *

**Battle 2: Enter Steven, the Rock Maniac**  
_You teach me and I'll teach you._

* * *

"Well, it looks like this little girl's going to be okay, miss." Nurse Joy smiled upliftingly, scribbling something onto her clipboard, before bowing out of the room respectively.

Cynthia slumped thankfully onto Nurse Joy's stool once the woman had politely exited, feeling as if the whole world had been lifted from her shoulders as a cool wave of relief washed over her.

She squeezed reassuringly with Gible's paw, and if Cynthia hadn't known better, she could have sworn she saw a ghost smile flit across the still-distrustful mini-shark's countenance.

She had been literally flying across the short pathway between the desolate beach and Sandgem Town, hastily sprinting as fast as she could in her heeled boots before she had ditched the awful footwear for bare feet and swung the black boots into her shoulder bag. It was fortunate that a gray-haired lady had seen her when she had stumbled into the peaceful village. If not, she would have wasted precious time while lost. Fortunately, the old woman had swung her russet scarf over her shoulder and dashed as quickly as a healthy old woman could (which turned out to be pretty darn fast) towards the Nurse Joy in her local Pokémon Center for help. Not only that, this spaceman-dressed person had good-naturedly pointed her in the general direction of the Pokemon Center as the old woman had run off.

Once Cynthia had thanked the kind man and made it to the red-roofed building, a bright blue-eyed, determined looking woman had been packing up medical supplies as the same old woman explained to her of Cynthia's predicament. The twenty-something-year-old woman had bouncing rose-pink tresses pulled into two Tepig-tails and looped back into her hair for convenience and a plump, matching pink Chansey carrying a bundle of bandages and small antiseptics at her flank.

Cynthia had never been so relieved to see a Pokémon, never mind a _pink _Pokémon, in her lifetime.

The blonde abruptly snapped out of her earlier musings as Gible snubbed her hand with consecutive presses and pushes, which she only then realized was still hand-in-hand with the Land Shark Pokémon. She instantly retrieved her appendage, as if she had been brutally shocked by a Pikachu. A horrified expression marred her youthful features.

No. She wouldn't... she had already overcome –

"You know, that's not very nice," a condescending voice started, "You've gotta treat your Pokémon way better than _that_."

Cynthia whirled, turning to the wry, masculine voice from the opened entrance.

He had pure, silver-stranded hair with shades of a cool metallic blue, as if imitating the sheen of raw steel. Each chunk had been ultimately cut in jagged, haphazard directions – a large part even stuck straight up into the air! – yet somehow the steel-blue layers fell aesthetically past his ear-line and _stayed_ in an almost classy style.

Just how much gel did this guy use?

She raised her lacklustre, gray eyes and met with fascinating, sunshine amber – many shades darker and much more vivid to her own golden mane, and set unto a beautifully chiselled countenance of sun-kissed, Pecha-berry skin.

What was with men and their unnaturally pretty features these days?

Like really, come on.

The guy in front of her – who seemed to be about her age – even wore top brand clothing. (Not fair at _all!_)

Clad in specially woven straight-cut black pants that could survive in the harshest climates and black, tie-up sneakers, he too was obviously a lover of black like Cynthia herself. He wore a tailor-made, t-shirt-like dark jacket that, if hit in the right lighting, would have a dark purple sheen in two lightning-like shapes from his shoulders. However, there were no visible buttons or zipper to close aforementioned jacket.

Cynthia concluded that it was one of those new coats that would 'button-up' with hidden magnets in the lining, made specially by Magnemite or the Magnet Pokémon's evolutions. But because his jacket was opened, Cynthia was able to see a white undershirt and the long, vermillion scarf billowing at his front.

Yeah, he had weird tastes alright.

Really, who paired _black, purple _and _red _together?

The boy raised a hand, and Cynthia noted the black, fingerless gloves with a thick metal band on the knuckles before she realized he was about to pet – no – _try _to pet Gible.

Gible, who had just recently been traumatized by that blue-haired freak.

Gible, who even had a short temper with Cynthia – who had, by all means, been her savior.

Gible, who obviously wouldn't trust another human _any time soon_.

"Wai –" she began, before quickly recoiling and instinctively forcing her eyes shut, flinging her head to her side as not to watch the predictably gruesome happening.

_Chomp._

Pause.

Pause.

Cynthia cracked an eye open, curious as to why she hadn't heard the screech of pain from the strange featured boy. Cynthia then had the strange impulsive to laugh, but was too surprised to initiate it.

Gible had instinctively bitten down, yes, but the titanium-made bands on the boy's gloves easily saved the boy's hand from being masticated, as Gible's futile gnawing had little to no effect even at the moment. Funny how she should have known Gible's sharp jaws would be no match for the solid metal. Mother's own Steel-type could only use Metal Claw to cut through, and nothing else.

"My, my, aren't you feisty," the silver-haired boy tilted his head to the side, as if confusedly scrutinizing Gible for a moment, before turning to Cynthia.

He smiled almost gentlemanly. "Could you tell your Pokémon to let go? I rather like my hand you see, and I would be devastated to lose it."

Gible immediately stopped its determined chewing and released the boy's hand to glare heatedly at him as Cynthia clarified firmly.

"She's not my Pokémon."

The boy's amber-eyed gaze widened remarkably, "Really? Then who's is it?"

Gible's glare seemed to have intensified tenfold.

Cynthia slowly shook her head and clasped her hands behind her back, as she emphasized slowly. "Gible is a wild Pokémon."

The boy ignored her condescending tone as his silver brows furrowed, "What? Then why was it hurt?"

"You know, wild Pokémon can get hurt too. It's not always human initiated," Cynthia deadpanned.

Gible whirled her head to Cynthia, a confused glint in her pitch-black eyes, as if silently asking: _You aren't gonna tell him?_

Cynthia winked playfully at Gible, which caused Gible to become even more perplexed by the odd human.

Gible had gotten used to getting her Pokémon pride crushed and ruthlessly trampled on after Cyrus had battled ruthlessly and captured her in Wayward Cave, and began her so-called 'training.' It was then that Gible had deemed the human race an evil kind – an evil, malevolent kind that couldn't protect itself without Pokémon _slaves_.

Cyrus had taken her all over – the snowy mountains, deserted plateaus, underground caves and beautiful tropics – and Gible had seen many trainers command 'their' Pokémon into unnecessary fights. All of them had sent out 'their' Pokémon to battle against her, and she in turn fainted all of those disgustingly _diligent _and_ loyal_ slaves. Gible never understood those revolting Pokémon who willingly fought for their masters or mistresses, and never understood the human race itself – and never will want to.

But why was this female human saving what was left of her dignity? (Which had been almost non-existent already.)

Cynthia continued on nonchalantly, swinging her leg over the other in her sitting position as she began zipping up her boots. "So, who are you anyway?"

The silver-haired, golden-eyed boy massaged his hand, frowning at the blonde.

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself before asking for someone else's name?"

"Oh where are my manners?" Cynthia answered dryly, looking up once she had both uncomfortable boots on. "Oh yeah, they _for some reason_ disappeared when some granny-haired boy waltzed into our room. Which makes me want to ask why you're here, but of course, my manners have reluctantly come back, and so I'll introduce myself."

Cynthia courteously stood up and smiled sweetly as she bowed with one foot forward and one hand tucked at her front, "Cynthia Shirona."

He smiled. "Well at least you can give a dramatic greeting," the boy ran a hand through his hair, slightly amused as he put his hand out, "I'm Steven Stone, but you can call me Steven."

Cynthia blinked blankly at the outstretched appendage as she returned from her bow. She looked up into the sincere amber gaze of the boy, and was slightly perturbed. _I'm being fairly rude, yet he's still being civil?_

"You know, it's kind of awkward when someone wants to shake hands and the other person isn't responding."

Cynthia snapped out of her musings and caught the entertained glint in amber eyes before she huffed aversely and politely shook his hand.

"There you go, now that's nicer," Steven purposefully glanced over at Gible. "Now you just need to be more civil with Gible over here, and you'll be all set."

Really, Cynthia would have _loved_ to pulverize the guy and it seemed Gible would have gladly helped. But, instead, she asked the probing question that had been irritatingly grating her for the last minute. "So, what exactly are you doing here?"

Steven scratched his neck sheepishly, "We'll actually, Nurse Joy wanted to ask you some questions in room twenty-four."

"Then why didn't she come herself?"

"She had to rush over to another patient down the hallway, and since I was already passing by to pick up Anorith, who needed to be healed in room twenty-five, the man she had asked to pick you up asked me to get room seventeen's trainer to bring along."

"What? Then why didn't he come?"

"Something about an emergency in some other wing, I think," Steven said dismissively.

Cynthia nodded, "Alright," and let out a small, grateful smile, "I guess I should say thanks for your time then."

She turned away from Steven – which was pure luck in his case, or else she would have seen his instant colouring cheeks at Cynthia's astounding smile – and inquired the Land Shark Pokémon earnestly. "Gible, could you please stay here before I come back?"

Gible snorted a non-committal sound as she gave Cynthia the cold shoulder.

Cynthia smiled gratefully and swung her black satchel over her shoulder, "I'll take that as a yes."

Steven nodded to Cynthia and twisted on his heel towards the door. Cynthia threw one last worrying glance over her shoulder at Gible's royal-blue back, before finally exiting the sterilized-smelling room. As she clacked her heels onto the limestone-tiling, she inadvertently saw a Zubat flap into the hallway as well, but heard a masculine voice ordering it back into its room so it wouldn't hurt itself furthermore. A deep frown marred Cynthia's features. _Why do so many trainers _want _to battle if their Pokémon are going to get hurt in the first place?_

"So, did you hunt hard for that shiny Gible and accidentally hurt it?"

Cynthia blinked for a moment before she regarded Steven in utter deadpan. "Didn't I already say that Gible wasn't 'mine'? Really, even if I was a Pokémon trainer, I could never treat a Pokémon as a material object. How you trainers can be so insensitive, ordering them into battle, I'll never understand."

"What are you talking about? I treat my Pokemon as friends, equal partners even. And we battle to learn more from each other and about each other, raising our friendship as we fight off a pseudo-enemy. Really, you were actually saying the truth when you said you weren't a trainer?" Steven curiously observed the silver-eyed, blonde girl, seeing for the first time the not-so convenient get-up.

_Huh, maybe she isn't. No Pokémon trainer would want to travel around the regions in dress pants, or _high-heeled _court shoes_ _for that matter. _Steven eyed the short-cape-like sweater and Umbreon-imitation baubles in her Ponyta-tail. _But… maybe she's a coordinator?_

"No! I could never – !" she bit her lip, slowing her walking pace to a stop, "I mean, today I'm technically one, since I was going to get my first starter Pokémon, but… I kind of got lost on Route 201 –"

"Wait."

"Yes?" Cynthia stopped.

"You got lost on Route _201?_" Did his lip twitch?

"Yeah…?"

"_201?_"

Cynthia nodded slowly with a muddled face, rapidly becoming suspicious of Steven's almost pokerfaced and oddly blank countenance.

Suddenly Steven barked into unnecessary laughter, his façade dispersing like a Pokémon's Haze. It almost would have been comical with how fast his features changed, if not for the fact it was at her expense.

"You. Lost. Route. _201_," Steven cried in between breaths and snickers, tightly hugging his stomach as his squinting eyes _watered._

"Hey! It's not like I meant to!" Cynthia flushed rosily, crossing her arms defiantly with a small pout.

That seemed to have added more sunlight to the Sunflora as Steven laughter amplified.

"It's not my fault I ran off once I saw wild bird Pokémon were in the middle of the road. I mean, I didn't even have a Pokémon for my defense," Cynthia muttered under her breath.

"Oh, I see you've somehow made the Solrock-faced Steven laugh! You know, the only time I've ever seen this rock maniac crack a smile was when my Chansey by mistake found an Amber Stone and he got to keep it."

Steven and Cynthia quickly turned and caught sight of a beaming Nurse Joy with her trusty Chansey pushing a chockfull trolley of hospital food items.

Cynthia quirked a blonde eyebrow and rudely pointed with her thumb towards a still-chuckling Steven (although his laughter was dying down, thankfully).

"Why in the name of Mew did you have to assign _him _to bring me? I'm pretty sure I could have found my way."

Nurse Joy furrowed her pink brows. "May I ask what you are talking about?"

"You told Steven to bring me to room twenty-four, didn't you?"

"Actually, a turquoise-haired guy in a spacesuit told me that she had wanted you there."

Cynthia whipped her head towards Steven and glared Poison Barbs. "Really, are you trying to be funny or what? I'm not in the mood for your stupid jokes."

"But I'm not joking! He's _real _with a… err… _real_ Zubat with him!" Steven recalled defensively.

_Zubat? _Cynthia frowned to herself. _Didn't I see…_

"I apologize, but I never instructed anyone to tell you to leave the room. I was afraid someone may come in and steal your shiny Gible. Rare coloration Pokémon are few and far to be seen, not to mention next to impossible to capture," she paused, "Many robberies have been happening these days in town, and Officer Jenny hasn't been able to find the culprit," Nurse Joy frowned solemnly, an odd emotion compared to her (and her family's) typical joyous demeanor.

Cynthia froze in her tracks, whirling disbelievingly onto Nurse Joy. "Steal? A person would actually steal Pokémon?"

Steven gave her a '_no duh' _look, however Nurse Joy seemed to have taken her rhetorical question with earnest. "Yes, it's quite sad, but true. It seems all the thefts had been originated by the same –" she raised her hand to cover mouth, as if in shocking realization as her blue-eyes widened. "Steven… the description you just said matched exactly with what Officer Jenny told me to be aware of! He too had a Zubat!"

Silence.

Cynthia instantly broke into a fast-paced sprint with Steven dashing a mere second after her as the duo headed for Gible's room. Ignoring the searing jolts of pain from running in high heeled, knee-length boots, Cynthia bit her lip and rushed on. How those super-spy movies had women running in similar footwear were beyond Cynthia.

As the blonde sharply curved round the corner, her long, Ponyta-tail billowing like a golden banner behind her as she sped up with blood-rushing adrenaline, Cynthia barely registered Steven, who had somehow caught up with her speed.

Cynthia wasn't a boastful girl, so she wasn't exaggerating when she said she was a top athlete. Of course, she could never be as fast as a Ninjask, especially in her present footwear, but she was only human. Then again, when she was unexpectedly forced into Hearthome City's Pokéschool by her small-town family, she had immediately joined the 'Little Kidz Track Team' once she had heard that the top three would be travelling to Solaceon Town's Ruins.

At age seven she was able to run a mile in six minutes, hoping to try and explore the fabled caves.

She only later found out that the Ruins had been closed down by the locals because of Unknown Pokémon.

Cynthia quickly snapped out of her diverted musings, flicked her gray gaze over to her left and surprisingly saw Steven at her side. He wasn't at all winded, not that she was either, and Cynthia began to see the silver-haired boy in a new light. However, before she could comment on his physical ability, she turned and averted her full attention back onto the task at hand, and looked up into room seventeen.

It was empty.

Cynthia glanced left, right and quickly jumped to conclusions, "Gible might've been taken by Cyrus again!" she nearly shrieked, her anxiety levelling up a notch along with her stress. "Oh Arceus, why did you have to take her? She never did anything bad – well at least, I don't think she did –"

"Cynthia."

" – but she was a noble Pokémon! She may have been overly cautious; she may have been a bit touchy, but Mew, she was a good Pokemon deep inside behind her guarded heart –"

"Cynthia."

"What?" Cynthia snapped sharply, turning to Steven indignantly.

"The window's still open," Steven pointed out.

Cynthia instantly dashed for it, pulling the baby-blue curtains apart. Indeed, the squared window was _wide _open, and Cynthia could manage out a small-scale Pokémon battle right outside of it, on the expansive grasses.

With Gible in it.

Cynthia hurdled through the window and almost landed on her feet. Cynthia Shirona, top track athlete, who could jump higher hurdles at age seven, _almost _landed a two-three foot jump.

Damn high heeled boots.

A black, fingerless gloved hand pulled her up, and Cynthia gratefully smiled up at Steven in return.

Steven nodded in the affirmative, and once Cynthia was steadied, the twosome dashed for the battle grounds. Upon arrival, Cynthia was brusquely pulled to Steven's side, his hand gripped on her shoulders non-too gently. Before she barked out her disbelief, an Air Cutter sent from Zubat swirled to where she last stood, the razor-wind slash cutting through the sky before it gradually faded into a serene breeze.

Cynthia's cheeks stained crimson. "Thanks," she muttered timidly.

Steven nodded appreciatively, his lips twitching once like the flicker of a smile, before he crooked his head towards the spacesuit man with narrowed, threatening brows.

"What are you doing, sir?"

The man, probably nineteen or twenty, had unnatural turquoise hair layered like a Smoochum and sported an odd black and gray spacesuit-like outfit. In his hand, he tightly gripped two berry-picking sacks, one bulging with supposedly his other robberies and the other one empty, probably the sack he was going to use to capture Gible.

His angular face was set in an offending sneer as he snapped irrefutably in a clipped, odd accent, "None o'yer business. Jus' run'long with yer girlie, and f'get all've dis."

Silence reigned as the duo processed the words. Obviously they were not used to the strange pronunciation or the quick flow of words.

"I'm not his girlie – I mean girlfriend!" Cynthia defended, protesting against the last bit that she _did _understand. Fully.

The Zubat flapped in front of its master, waiting for more orders to attack, but it seemed the battle was at a standstill as the turquoise-haired man insufferably smirked at her, turning his full attention to the two interrupters.

"O' really?" he quirked a brow and leaned onto a leg. It seemed he hadn't had a good laugh in a while, so he decided to humor the blonde girl.

"Yes really!" Cynthia retorted indignantly.

"Fro'my point ta view, don't look lik' it."

"Wha? How –"

Cynthia cut off and suddenly froze, slowly flicking her sight from shoulder to shoulder and finally feeling the gentle weight of Steven's hands still protectively set upon them.

Cynthia bit her lip, feeling warmth spread across her face as she silently casted her humiliated gaze to the ground as she awkwardly shrugged off his calloused hands. She didn't dare a look at Steven's face at the moment, and for once she was fortunate for her long bangs shadowing her eyes, because she knew he would have been smirking in some condescending way, just like the village boys back in Celestic Town.

Oh, how wrong she was.

"O'ho! Now ain't 'his cute?" the spaceman barked into unnecessary laughter, wiping a non-existent tear from his blue-hued eye, before he cocked his head to the side with a contented sigh escaping his lips. "I'd've loved ta stay n' watch 'his mel'drama, but I still gotta 'atch this lil' guy 'ere – so run 'long."

_Gible! _Cynthia suddenly screamed in thought. _The only reason I came here was for her, and I haven't even done anything – _Cynthia shook her head, as if it could _somehow_ help the overload of blood flushing her face, before she determinedly scanned the area for the little Land Shark Pokémon.

Gible wobbly crouched on the soft blades of grassy earth, one eye set in a painful wince as she strained to steady herself to a more advantageous position. Cynthia immediately dashed to the rare coloration Pokémon, a determined glint to help in some way set in her steely gray eyes.

"Gible! Are you alright?"

Gible curiously threw a glance over her royal-blue shoulder with her good eye and was, to some extent, startlingly shocked. What was the female human doing? The blonde was basically running defencelessly into a full-blown battle zone!

...for her.

Cynthia quickly stooped on one knee, obligingly pulling up Gible by her upper, mini-arms to her full, Land Shark height.

Gible strangely sensed something warm, something fluttery inside of her as the human female dusted off the dirty debris of battle from her rough skin, even going as far as to rub off the soil and painful wounds on her aqua-striped horns. Gible had unconsciously activated her hidden ability – Rough Skin – during the battle with the space human's Zubat, so she silently knew that the scarlet blood on the female human's hands now weren't her own. But the blonde didn't stop. She determinedly kept wiping and rubbing off the filth from Gible's rough skinned face, massaging gently the throbbing lacerations on her arms and paying no mind to her own faintly bloodied fingers.

Why?

Why was this human so… different?

"Well ain't dis jus' darlin'? But wit' all things said n' done - Zubat, keep usin' Air Cutter!"

Cynthia felt rather than saw the incoming razor-wind attack, but she couldn't leave Gible there, to be assaulted again and harmed any further. From what Cynthia's seen, Gible had been hurt enough by Cyrus, humans in general as it seemed, and this weirdo took the cake. It was almost a motherly instinct when Cynthia Ursaring-hugged her arms around Gible, not caring at all for the Rough Skin fraying bits of her white tank top and pale skin as she brought the Land Shark Pokémon closer into her protective embrace and used her own body as a shield for the shocked Gible in the incoming attack.

The Air Cutter whirled forward, swirling sharply in a beeline as it easily sliced though Cynthia's black sweater and through her white undershirt layer, leaving a faint bloody gash on her back. But that wasn't all – Zubat continued to send Air Cutter attacks, knowing it would get brutally punished if it only hit the human and not a scratch surfaced on Gible. It fruitlessly circled around the blonde human, flapping out the razor-wind attacks from different positions, hopeful to get one attack in _right._

"A-rmmph," Cynthia bit her lower lip, muffling her cries of pain as one attack cut into her shoulder.

Steven was frozen in place, not sure if he should rush to her aid (which he _really _wanted to do) or stay on the sidelines. He couldn't enter a commenced Pokémon battle – even though technically this wasn't a _legal_ Pokémon battle. However, Cynthia was seriously receiving the brunt of attacks out there. Was a trainer even allowed to do that? Steven had never encountered a person who would use her own body to protect a battle ready Pokémon. Well, he supposed this didn't count as a Pokémon battle. But, even if this wasn't a legit fight, would a trainer go so far for one Pokémon? A Pokémon that wasn't even theirs?

Really, that Cynthia… she was like a rare Shiny stone, hidden among the rubble in a dark cave – different, casting a heartwarming radiance, and something oddly refreshing in a teenage girl.

Like the making of a true Pokémon master.

Steven almost laughed out loud, something that would usually never occur, especially twice in a day. A Pokémon master? No, it was impossible. Cynthia was different, that Steven could not deny, but she wasn't that special. Besides, he shouldn't have been discerning over this in the first place. To help or not to help – _that_ was the puzzling question.

The silver-haired boy was beat to it though when one nasty-looking Air Cutter was violently whipped from the Zubat. Before he could press the button on his pokéball, to enlarge it and throw it into the battle, a large, blue electrical shockwave ball slammed into the unsuspecting Zubat and sent it somersaulting into the air in a tangle of bluish purple limbs.

Cynthia was stunned as she silently watched Gible jump out of her shielding arms and back into the battle. Gible's mouth had sent a shockingly powerful Dragon Rage at Zubat, and now Gible left her mouth slightly open to let out the smoky aftermath. As Gible spun from Cynthia's grasp, the little Land Shark caught the stunned expression from Cynthia, and the blonde swore she saw the Land Shark Pokémon haughtily smirk at her, as if directly saying: _Now it's my turn to protect you!_

Cynthia couldn't help but smile back, but before she could comment, out of the corner of her gray eye, Cynthia saw a thin, greenish rod right above Gible, shooting directly downwards at the unsuspecting Pokémon.

"Gible! Use Dragon Rage above! Hurry!" Cynthia shrieked with wide, frightened eyes. The quick command easily escaped her lips, as if it was natural.

Gible never took orders from humans other than Cyrus, but strangely, she swallowed the human female's frantic instruction easily as she detected the worrying undertone in the blonde human's voice and shot an electric-blue Dragon Rage above. Gible suddenly felt a wave of relief as her Dragon Rage exploded wildly with Zubat's Leech Life, and smiled in her Gible-like way.

_Maybe this human isn't so bad._

The spacesuit man scowled, rudely pointing directly at Gible in blatant anger. "Zubat, hurry'up n' use Wing Attack!"

Zubat swerved behind Gible, pulling its bat-like wings behind before gushing out a small tornado from the webby appendages.

Cynthia racked her brain for a move that Gible might know, and quickly instructed. "Gible, use Sand Tomb behind you!"

_Please, oh, please tell me you know that move! _Cynthia prayed silently.

It seemed Arceus was at her side as Gible quickly twisted on her heel and snapped open her Sharpedo-like jaw to unleash a coiling sandy attack, instantly blowing the Wing Attack back and trapping Zubat inside a harshly raging, swirling sandstorm.

The turquoise-haired man furiously glowered, "Zubat, use Air Slash to get out of the Sand Tomb!"

"Gible, use Dragon Rage while Zubat getting ready!" Cynthia felt oddly exhilarated, and the slight grin widened naturally as the battle had progressed_. _Somehow, the combative situation was positively exciting her, pumping up her already high-strung adrenaline.

Gible curtly nodded, feeling the human female's confident feelings, and strangely felt uplifted after it unleashed another Dragon Rage at the flailing and frantic Zubat. It was odd – Gible felt _in sync _with the blond human female.

"Zubat, dodg' it!" the spaceman roared furiously, and cursed _colourfully_ in vexed frustration as Zubat was critically hit.

"Dang, Dang, Dang! Return, Zubat," the spaceman snarled infuriatingly as a red glow formed around his trapped Zubat before zapping into the spaceman's red pokéball.

The turquoise-haired man scowled angrily at Cynthia as he pressed the button on the sphere, shrinking it to fit between his fingers to shove into his pocket.

"In'a few 'ears, I'll be at the top of Galactic! An' when I gots me'self better, strong'ar Pokémon, 'ou'll be sorry!" he heatedly sneered at the group, before swinging his two berry-picking sacks over his scrawny shoulder and bolting off into the dark alleyways. A round object fell from one of the brown-woven bags, but the fuming spaceman was too preoccupied with his clandestine escape, and cared not for the small sacrifice.

Cynthia would have sprinted after the turquoise-haired criminal, but her volatile concern over Gible won over as the little Land Shark Pokémon had fallen to her stubby knees after blasting that last Dragon Rage. Cynthia spun on her heel to her.

"Are you alright Gible? Are you hurt anywhere?" Cynthia carefully checked over to Gible with rapt attention, examining every inch cautiously for any battle wounds with obvious worry.

Gible shook her head with a light laugh, and Cynthia knew she saw the Land Shark Pokémon sincerely smile. "**Gi! Gi-gible!**" – "_**Yes! I'm alright!**_" Gible wagged her arms in the air fervently, as if justifying her incomprehensible Pokémon language.

Cynthia sighed in reprieve (somehow she had understood) and leaned back on her arms, tilting her head to the side with a slight smile.

"You had me going there Gible," she inhaled then, as if readying herself. Gible blinked dazedly, watching uncomprehendingly as the human blonde bowed her head apologetically, at _her_.

"I'm sorry for imposing you back there, Gible. From what I've seen, I know you don't take orders lightly." _**How did she know? **_Gible thought as Cynthia continued, ignoring or oblivious to Gible amazement.

"I'm not even a trainer, and yet I…," she looked up into Gible's still-surprised eyes, "Please don't hate me for feeling… well… _happy_ during the battle. Today… I actually found out how, and why, trainers battle."

Cynthia grinned admirably, a twinkle in her steel-gray eyes. "It's exhilarating," she stated simply, "and I felt a sort of _bond _there, right between us," she laughed melodiously, "You think I'm crazy?" Cynthia's eyes were sincere as she inquired playfully, but Gible could hear the hint of serious undertone.

Gible blinked blankly back at her with her big eyes, before shaking her little, Sharpedo-like head, "**Gib, Gible-Gib.**"

Cynthia smiled, as if she knew exactly what Gible said.

Suddenly an idea struck Cynthia like a Thundershock, and she bolted to her feet, almost breathless.

"What?" Steven piped up with quick concern. He had watched the heartwarming exchange between Cynthia and Gible out of the corner of his eye, not wanting to intrude the seemingly personal discussion until Cynthia had gasped quite worryingly. Steven thoroughly scanned the hospital backyard. Did that spaceman come back?

Cynthia whirled to Gible, "Hey, Gible…?"

The shiny Land Shark Pokémon craned her head up adorably (in Cynthia's point of view), indicating that Cynthia had her full attention.

"Would you like to join my journey? Across Sinnoh?"

Gible made a face, slightly suspicious and obviously confused.

"I mean," Cynthia cleared her throat, elaborating her idea, "because I'm going to be going everywhere, perhaps one of my stops will be your habitat – your _home_." _Hopefully_, Cynthia thought to herself as she whipped an eager grin up.

Gible gave Cynthia a starry-eyed look, presenting a wide-mouthed, joyful beam at the mere mentioning. "**Gi-Gi!**" which clearly meant, "Yes, Yes!" in Cynthia's eyes, which made her benevolent smile brighten.

All of a sudden, a doubting shadow blanketed over Gible's shark-like features, and her big, black eyes locked suspiciously onto Cynthia's lengthy-strap shoulder bag. "**Gible Gi-Gi-Gible? Gi-Gible?**"

Cynthia furrowed her brows in confusion, before understanding fell upon her, and she fluttered her arms at her front.

"Oh no, no, no! Don't worry. I don't even _own _any pokéballs yet. Don't you understand me? I'm going to bring you home – once we actually figure out where it is and when we'll reach it – and you're _not_ just visiting, if your former trainer even granted you that before. You'll be with your friends, your family, your parents –" Cynthia abruptly broke off.

Gible had been fantasizing idyllically once Cynthia had begun clarifying thoroughly with her awe-inspiring plan, even adorning a wistful smile at the thought of reuniting with her Land Shark kinfolk – she missed those motherly bites from Mama Garchomp and Big Brother Gabite – but a wave of concern washed over her as a sudden strange look took over her newfound friend's face. However, Gible was immediately cut off as the silver-haired human – Stefen? Steven? – abruptly exclaimed.

"Cynthia, come here!"

Cynthia snapped out of her self-induced daze and trailed the masculine voice to find Steven, three to four yards away now, and kneeling upright on the sun-kissed grassland as if proposing his undying love to her. The silver-haired boy lowered further to his left, as if bringing out a certain _something_ to show Cynthia. The gray-eyed blonde instantly reddened and dropped her unreliable gaze like a pile of stones.

"S-Steven, what the _Heatran_ are you _doing?_ I don't think we could be ready for that at all!"

"Pardon?" Confusion was evident. "Don't you want to see – "

"No!"

"Huh? Why not?"

"Well what do you think!?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'm asking you what the _Heatran _are you trying to pull here!?"

"I have _no _idea why you're so against this! What's wrong?"

"What's not wrong with this!?"

"How am I supposed to know!?" Steven sounded quite frustrated and seriously confused, and Cynthia had the distinct feeling he was pressing the bridge of his nose to calm himself. "It's not like it's going to eat you… at least… I don't think it will."

"What?" How could a small ring eat –

Cynthia willingly broke her train of thought as she swiftly strode over to Steven's side, her curiosity piqued as she glimpsed the large shape from her previous distance. Cynthia furrowed her brows as she smoothly kneeled into a sitting position beside him, scanning it over with inquisitive eyes.

"What is it?"

"You've never seen a Pokémon egg before?" Steven put a hand to his heart, as if in fatal shock as he stared at Cynthia.

Cynthia ignored him, and regarded the egg with rapt attention. It was an oval shape, more pointed at the 'top,' and was a pure, snow white with patches of red and blue triangular-lined spots.

As Steven gently offered the beautifully patterned ovum to her, she felt the warmth of the life inside of it with her two cupped hands. She was immensely grateful for her slender fingers at the moment because of the obvious size of the egg, which just fit in her arms would she be hugging it all the time. It was beautiful, it was enthralling and Cynthia couldn't imagine what wondrous life it would hatch to be.

"It's fascinating, don't you think?" Steven began, and before Cynthia could answer, he abruptly grinned. "Almost four-times the size of an Everstone!"

Something like a television rewind noise pierced through Cynthia's mind.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, yes! Think of it, the miniature size, the smooth texture, everything! Haven't you heard of an Everstone before? Wait, of course you haven't. The unchanging stone isn't very captivating, and you've probably neglected it! Oh the horror! Have you known how useful they can be? How they could be used for the halting of evolution for Pokémon? Perhaps they are ugly, even I say so, and they blend quite well with the average alley stone, but if you look close enough, you can see the beautiful grains! The outer coat is quite lovely, if I do say so myself, as it has this dark, spotty-like sheen to it over the undercover of whitish-gray slate. However, the inner contents are _quite _different! Trainers all over have tried in vain to search for them if you must know, while some have found mounds beyond mounds, but would rather not give them away! How selfish, yes, though perhaps I am being hypocritical. I myself have perhaps… twe… no… thir… hmmm, never-mind; I've lost count after I was eleven years old. Truly speaking – "

Cynthia suddenly slapped her hand over his energetic mouth – who knew? – as she held the egg in the crook of her unrestricted arm. She smiled sweetly at him through closed eyes, "Surely, you have something to blabber on about other than _rocks…_ right?"

Steven blinked blankly back at her.

Cynthia lowered her hand with a sigh escaping her mouth and a roll in her eyes, "Seriously, Nurse Joy was right."

"Right about what?" Steven inquired.

Cynthia gave him a look, before a light laugh fled from her lips and she smiled warmly, "One day, when you realize or remember, try asking someone close to you. Or, preferably, try asking someone who just recently gets close to you. That'll make my day," Steven gave her a quizzical look and she giggled, "whenever that happens."

"But all I was doing was teaching you the specifics about how a – "

Cynthia cut in with a light laugh. "And _I'll _be teaching you about when and where to do so."

Steven frowned in confusion, not getting the inside joke, and decided to change the topic. "So are you going to keep the egg?"

Cynthia's chuckles died as she frowned in quick thought. "You did find it first, so shouldn't you keep it?"

Steven shook his head sadly, "No, sorry. I just picked up Anorith today from the Center, so I have five Pokémon in my party already. Eggs count as one of the six, and I was hoping to capture a Steel-type Pokémon in Sinnoh. Not a mystery-type."

"Six? Party? What are you going on about now?" Cynthia frown deepened in confusion. Steven's eyes widened in shock.

"You're not serious."

"I'm deadly serious."

"Shouldn't you have learned all this when you first got your Pokémon?" Steven pointed out sceptically.

It was Cynthia's turn to shake her head in sadness, "No. I haven't even – Oh Arceus!"

"What is it?" Steven inquired worryingly as Cynthia speedily stood up, mouth agape and eyes wild.

"I was supposed to be at Professor Rowan's lab," she paused, stealing a glance at the time with widening gray-eyes, "_five and a half hours ago!_"

"What_!_?" Steven blinked, and was shocked at the outdoor garden clock for the hospital's yard, presenting the intricately designed short hand at the large number two, and the longer, thinner hand stretched at five-after.

"Damn it!" Cynthia cursed under her breath, almost waving her arms in the air in frustration before she remembered the egg. As a precaution, she placed the egg inside her black satchel, glad for the black shoulder-bag's large size at the moment.

Steven sighed, scratching the side of his neck as of habit, "Acutally, I was also supposed to be at Professor's – at lunchtime though."

Cynthia kindly signalled Gible over to her – the Pokémon had been watching the odd spectacle of two human adolescents with deadpanned eyes (obviously inwardly thinking: _Were all humans like this?_) – and asked the Pokémon if she could carry her, explaining it would be much faster (no offense) for her to run over to the lab without a short-legged Pokémon trying to keep at pace. Gible sucked in her protesting pride, turned 'off' her hidden ability, and agreed to be carried in the arms of Cynthia.

Besides, it _was _a free ride.

"We have to go now then. Better late than never, as the saying goes," Steven grunted with a thin smile as he snatched a miniature pokéball from his jacket's pocket, pressing the middle button to blow it to his hand size, and throwing the red-and-white sphere into the air.

"Claydol!"

A large black body with two small, stubby legs, a wide, rounded head with a protrusion on the top and a remarkable, encircling white pattern on its chest was first seen as the reddish pokéball glow faded. The pattern consisted of a wavy white frame on its circular pink eyes, each with a dot-like pupil and seemingly alternating expressions on each eye with small, beak-like yellow segments lodged in between.

"**Claayyy-doolll**," the massive, black Pokémon droned.

"Claydol, could you please bring us both to Professor Rowan's lab? We were there yesterday, remember?" Steven requested politely, and Cynthia could barely detect the faintly impatient undertone as she hugged Gible to her chest.

"**Claayyy**," Claydol hummed before its cannon-like arms, which had been kept close to its black body, removed themselves and levitated with raw physical power, as if it wanted Steven and Cynthia to grab hold of them to bring them to the laboratory.

"What are you doing Cynthia? Take Claydol's left arm with one of yours!" Cynthia whipped her head over, and saw Steven hugging Claydol's right arm and floating in the air. Exactly how was she supposed to grab on with Gible in her arms? The transportation didn't look exactly comfortable.

Cynthia blinked once with deadpan. _He's not serious. I am not –_

Before she could finish her own thought, Claydol swooped its left arm under Cynthia – who immediately clutched onto the 'needle' of the arm as not to fall off with one hand holding Gible – and the three of them hovered quickly and quietly to the laboratory above Sandgem's buildings. Cynthia had been too stunned to even yelp in surprise, not to mention her breath had been stolen by the sight of the small town when in air.

"Oh yeah, back when I was suggesting a look at the egg, what did you think I was doing?" Steven questioned curiously over his shoulder to kill some time.

Cynthia's cheeks burned a fiercer crimson than a Pikachu's own as she hid her face from view under her blonde bangs and behind the Land Shark Pokémon. Gible grinned knowingly as she only needed to glance over her shoulder to see the rosy expression. Steven was puzzled as he met with awkward silence.

It was going to be a long trip.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

**(23/05/12): **And yes, I know, in the game the Pokémon Center is right next to the lab. However, I seriously doubt a whole town counted two houses, a Pokémart, lab and Center. That's not even a town. So I expanded some of the gaming towns into a more realistic view. However, the overall story will be placed in the game universe, mixed with anime and manga here and there.


	3. Of Smiles and Secrets

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

* * *

**Battle 3: Of Smiles and Secrets**  
_It's always hard, when the journey begins._

* * *

"And exactly _where_ have you been, Miss Shirona?"

Cynthia nervously shuffled her feet and kept her head down in noticeable guilt. Her curtain of blonde bangs shielded half her face, hiding her downcast gaze. She had her hands clasped tensely and she began fiddling her thumbs behind her back once she heard the emotionless voice of the 50-something-year-old man. She chanced a shamefaced look through her bangs at the Professor.

He had salt-and-peppered hair, more white than black now that he was in his senior years. His bushy mustache was favouring his white hairs as well, and his facial features were crinkling with laugh lines. He wore what all scientists wore: a white lab covering. However, underneath his unbuttoned coat, he wore a slate-blue sweater vest over a white dress shirt, a hazel-brown tie, straight-cut navy slacks, and a pair of dark-umber russet loafers.

After a tense, awkward moment, she mustered her vocal cords into tune.

"W-well, I s-sort of got lost on Route 201–"

"Route_ 201?_ How does an aspiring trainer such as yourself want to become a Pokémon master," Cynthia instantly scowled behind her hair as she sneaked a heated glare. _I never even _wanted _to become a master! _But it went unnoticed as Rowan continued sternly with crossed arms, "if you cannot even find your way on the easiest route in Sinnoh?"

"But Professor!" Steven strode forward in instinctive protest, gesturing dramatically. "It wasn't even Cynthia's fault! There was a flock of bird Pokémon on the road –"

He abruptly halted as Rowan gently raised his hand. A forced sigh escaped the old man's lips, "I know there must have been a reason. However, it is still and very much intolerable." The white-and-black-haired, mustachioed man flicked his gaze over to Cynthia, noticing the dark clouds above her head and sighed once more, turning towards the miserable blonde. He placed his large hand on her shoulder, squeezing grandfatherly. "Miss Shirona," Cynthia dolefully looked up at the kind tone, meeting with warm coal-black eyes. "I am not trying to be hard on you. You need to learn one day that justified excuses or false excuses will not be accepted anywhere, at any time, at any place – and this being the first of many. You came here at such a late time, and I had thought you changed your mind."

"What do you mean?" Cynthia's brows furrowed.

Rowan retreated his hand behind his back and slowly brought forward his other one, as if demanding a gift. "May I see your Pokédex, Miss Shirona?" he requested gently.

Cynthia nodded rapidly and promptly rummaged through her shoulder bag, past the still-warm egg, and brought the solid black, duel-screen contraption to Rowan's open hand.

"Remember the three Pokémon I had entered into your Pokédex before, so you could choose one wisely on the day – this day – you would venture throughout Sinnoh?" Rowan flipped open the electronic, showing the first of the three on the top screen as the Pokédex began speaking in a computerized intonation.

"Turtwig, the Tiny Leaf Pokémon. Its shell is made of earth and when it absorbs water, it becomes harder," Rowan scrolled down to the next starter, "Chimchar, the Chimp Pokémon. Chimchar easily climbs the sheerest of walls and lives on mountain tops. When it sleeps, its flames go out." Rowan pressed down two slots. "Piplup, the Penguin Pokémon. Although not the most sure-footed, it is proud, getting right back up after a fall with its head held high."

"I was hoping to get Turtwig actually," Cynthia quickly bit her lower lip, silencing herself.

She had quickly learned the _hard_ way of speaking up when adults, even if they were blood-related, were rightfully cross. Respect your elders – that was what she'd been taught since young.

Rowan solemnly nodded, closing the black electronic and politely handing it back to Cynthia. Cynthia immediately snapped out of her musings and graciously accepted. "Yes, I predicted you to do so. Turtwig is the least…" His lips thinned out as he hunted for a word, "…lively, of the three."

Steven raised an eyebrow.

"However," Rowan continued solemnly, "I am afraid you cannot have any of the three."

"Excuse me?"

He casually gestured over to the bare, blue-marbled counter to his side. "Turtwig has been taken by a nice young girl, about your age I believe, saying she needed one more Pokémon to qualify for the title of Gym Leader. I do not understand how, but she defeated almost three Gym Leaders over Sinnoh with simply a Cherubi and Budew. I decided to grant her Turtwig, because she seemed to have this certain _glow_ around her," he glanced at Cynthia then, "that told me she would be a fine trainer one day."

"Well, what about Piplup?"

Rowan shook his head with a sad smile, "No. Piplup happily agreed to be trained with this ten-year-old boy. I believe his name was McCauley. Yes, a nice young lad I must say. He kept pestering me to call him by his first name, Destin, because it made him feel old if I didn't. Ha! The youngster acts as if he's older than me! Even Piplup couldn't help but like him."

"Perhaps Chimchar?" Cynthia tried feebly, already knowing the answer by the bare countertop.

"I was going to save Chimchar, hoping you would still be coming by, but this red-haired teen crashed into the lab at around one and demanded the Fire-type starter. Of course I refused the rude boy," suddenly Rowan smiled a small, wry smile. "However, every five minutes after, he would come in and beg until lab security would throw him out. It was astonishing, seeing the fiery determination in his eyes, and Chimchar began taking a liking to the feisty boy, who so resembled his mischievous himself. In the end, perhaps after the fifteenth or so try, I decided to give him Chimchar. The Chimp Pokémon instantly and willingly went to the afro-headed boy's side with a proud grin."

"Afro?" Cynthia quirked a skeptical brow.

"Yes, an odd lad with his own sense of style," he tapped his chin. "Now that I think of it, he was about your age as well, perhaps a year or two older than you – though he didn't act like it. I would suggest seventeen or eighteen like Mr. Stone here."

"Please don't call me Mr. Stone," Steven unexpectedly cut in. "That's my father. Call me Steven." His amber eyes were different compared to his polite smile.

"Alright, Mr. Steven," Rowan continued nonchalantly, even as the half-hearted amber glare pierced through, "Which reminds me. Have you brought the goods we needed from Hoenn, Mr. Steven?"

Cynthia cocked her head to the side innocently, "Goods? Hoenn? As in the region?" she swiveled her gaze unto silver-hair and bright amber eyes, "You're from the Hoenn region?"

"That is correct Miss Shirona. Haven't you heard of Mr. Stone, the CEO of –"

"Ah yes, in fact I am Cynthia. I was born in Rustboro City, where I got my first Pokémon." Steven smiled brightly, almost too brightly, as he seemed oblivious to the cross glare sent by Rowan.

"_As I was saying_," Rowan scowled internally for being interrupted by Steven. "Steven's the son of –"

"Actually," Steven sliced through Rowan's words, "would you like to see some Hoenn Pokémon? My team is with me right now."

Rowan scowled outwardly. "Mr. Steven –"

"I bet you'll be fascinated to know that two of my Pokémon were once fossils. They're from ancient times you see, and the rocks which they came from were absolutely wonderful! The Claw Fossil, when I first came across it in this tower – I believe it was known as Mirage Tower – I was astonished by its formation. I thought that it was a seashell! Really, I thought to myself, 'How could such a delicate sea object end up in a _desert area?_' and decided to check it out. Suddenly, once I realized it was an authentic fossil, the ground beneath me crumbled! So I kept heading down the Desert Underpass, and miraculously found another fossil. What a wonderful day it was. The Root Fossil at first seemed to be a tiny little flower by the leftover debris, but I was shocked when I touched it in the cave and felt cold, hard stone! It was smooth on the 'petal' part of it, and –"

This time, instead of Professor Rowan interrupting Steven, Cynthia smacked her palm onto his seemingly-non-ceasing mouth and gave a pouting glare, "Do you have to go on and on about _rocks_ again? Really, just show me your 'great' Pokémon already."

Rowan threw his hands up into the air in exasperation, "Fine! Don't listen to the Professor," he turned sharply, his elderly sigh completely audible to the two teens as he ambled off. "Don't listen to the _old_ Professor who has the doctorate, the experienced age, the knowledge of Pokémon and listen to the _young_ handsome man in _his_ laboratory…" he grumbled unhappily as he trudged out of sight, past the corner to what perhaps was his personal office.

Cynthia smothered the strange impulse to giggle at the Professor's antics.

"Alright," Cynthia glanced back as she heard Steven's boyish voice, "Who do you want to see? Take your pick."

Cynthia raised a playful eyebrow, "Huh," she tilted her head to the side, tapping her chin, "Hmmm, I don't know. Maybe start with the one that I haven't seen before?"

"But that'd be all of them except Claydol – _ohh_," Steven grinned sheepishly, scratching his neck, "Right. You don't know any of them but Claydol."

He casually shrugged his black knapsack from his shoulder to the checkered flooring, undid one of the handy pockets on the side and scooped up two mini-sized pokéballs. He coyly smiled up at Cynthia from his kneeled position, "I'll start with the two Fossil Pokémon from Hoenn I was talking about." He pressed the small button on the two red-and-white spheres, and the pokéballs enlarged dramatically. "Come on out, Lileep! Go, Anorith!"

Two crimson red silhouettes zapped onto the tiled floor, and as the physical properties began appearing, Cynthia blinked. Lileep – she supposed it was the plant-like Pokémon to her right – had eight petal-like pink tentacles protruding from the opening on its upper body. The cup-shaped body had a set of yellow circular patterns on it resembling eyes; however, its true eyes, which were bright yellow, lied within the darkness of the opening, like lights in a dark cave. The upper portion of Lileep's body was connected to its lower by means of a yellow-colored stem, extending from a semi-spherical base that had four 'roots' to anchor Lileep to the ground.

To Cynthia's left an aquatic, arthropod-like, greenish-gray Pokémon with eight flexible, white-and-red-tipped lobes on both sides of its body firmly sat – or rather – laid itself in front of her with unblinking beady eyes on its large head, which extended from the sides like light bulbs. She quickly noted the two large, segmented claws protruding from its mouth area, probably serving as either defense against predators or an attack mechanism against prey. Anorith's carapace was gray, with the middle of the head having a round black pattern with two red spots, and Anorith's tail was small with two gray spikes.

"Wow… they're so… umm… ancient looking."

Silence.

"**Lil? Lileep?**" the Sea Lily Pokémon seemed concerned as a shadow loomed over Steven.

"Ancient looking?" the silver-haired boy murmured.

"Yeah…?"

"That's _all _you have to say?"

Cynthia was confused. What else was she supposed to say? "Err, they look nice…?" she tried innocently.

"That's _it_?"

"Umm… purple's my favorite colour, and it looks neat with it?" Cynthia didn't know why she kept ending her sentences like questions.

It was all Steven could take.

"**They're **_**Rock-types! **_**How can you **_**not **_**be amazed by them!**" Steven appeared pointlessly angry at that moment, but Cynthia couldn't take him seriously with that adorable boyish pout on his countenance. Really, he had such a baby face for a seventeen-year-old! Steven crossed his arms, going into full on lecture mode. It was kind of cute since he did that pointing-the-index-finger thing that teachers did as they spoke.

Wow.

That whole train of thought was just… bad.

_Bad Cynthia! Bad, bad!_ She beat herself internally, keeping her face as impassive as possible as Steven took another easing breath.

_Wait… he isn't going to start spouting stuff about rocks again… is he?_

"If you must know, Rock-types are second only to Steel-types, which by the way are _the _best breed and are used by at least one Gym Leader in all regions – like good ol' Flint from Pewter City's Gym, twelve-year-old Jasmine from the Olivine Gym – though she's thinking of changing into Steel-types, which is not a bad choice at all, because Steel-types are just that awesome – and the new Gym Leader Roxanne for Rustboro City – she's ten, a genius, rock loving honour student – or even Sinnoh's own Roark from Oreburgh City!" Cynthia absently pondered onto how he had said all that in a single sentence, and before she was able to speak up, Steven continued on, this time in a gentle, warm voice.

"These two here, Lileep and Anorith are both my prized, best friends and partners. In fact, all of my Pokémon with me at this moment are. Claydol, Lileep, Anorith, and the other two – Aron, my first ever wild Pokémon I caught, and Beldum – I mean Metang – my first ever Pokémon friend."

Steven took out two more pokéballs from his jacket's pocket, blowing them into size with a press of the middle button, before throwing the two out, "Come on out you two."

Two scarlet shadows shot side-by-side each other, next to the Fossil Pokémon. Cynthia squinted slightly before she was able to manage out the two new Pokémon.

One of the two had a round, dark-gray body, four stubby legs, and a large, round, adorable head. Portions of white-steel armor covered its skull, limbs, and back, which also had a single spike protruding from the middle of it. Throughout the Pokémon's tiny body were small, circular openings in the armor, six on its head, two on its back below its spike, and two – the largest ones, being the opening for its pale, ice-blue eyes. They seemed to smile enthusiastically up into Cynthia's steel-gray orbs as it let out a little sound. "**A-aron.**"

Cynthia deduced the other Pokémon next to Aron, the one hovering a foot from the ground, to be Metang then. Its whole body was a metallic blue, almost a steel-teal sort of tint, and only a shade or two darker than Steven's own hair colour. Metang seemed to be a robotic life-form that had a disc-shaped body with two spiked up white-plates above a long, three-clawed, stone-like appendage on each side of the Iron Claw Pokémon. Unlike Aron's childishly cute, big blue eyes, Metang blinked down aloofly at her over its spikey nose with emotionless crimson eyes. "**Me-taaaang.**"

Cynthia grinned in awe, taking out her pokédex to record Steven's Pokémon. _Yay! Now all I've got is… _Cynthia's smile dropped at the unknown slots. _Well, _the blonde admonished miserably, _it's what Grandpa said. _A thousand mile journey begins with a single step.

"Wait. Hold on a sec." Suddenly a thought crossed her mind, and Cynthia furrowed her brows, tilting her head to the side. "How's Aron your first catch if Metang's your first Pokémon?"

Strangely, Steven's enthusiastic smile faintly dimmed. "Beldum was my mother's Pokémon, until I turned six. It's been my family ever since, and has gotten even closer to me since it's evolved."

He turned then, zapping each of his four Pokémon back into their respective red-and-white spheres, each waving as if portraying a farewell to Cynthia. Steven seemed to have hesitated slightly on Metang, which was humming a quiet, almost concerned drone. Steven quickly made it go back into its respective pokéball. It was an oddly tense silence, and Cynthia felt suddenly uncomfortable under it. Deciding to voice at least _something, _she commented.

"So how long did it take to evolve –"

Suddenly a large crashing, strident sound pierced through her words, along with a loud, masculine yelp. "What the – _!_?" The low, gentleman's voice sounded strikingly similar to the Professor's. But the professor doesn't screech. Nor swear.

Another great hurtling noise resounded across the walls and Cynthia jumped at the unexpected consecutive sound.

"Stop! Stop that Shiny Pokemon!"

Wait. Shiny Pokemon?

She heard the small, light tapping footsteps and whirled around in curiosity, right as a bright blue and yellow blur flew into her arms.

Gible.

So _that _was where the little girl went. When Cynthia and Steven arrived at the laboratory doorstep, Gible had eagerly leaped out of her arms to who-knows-where, and now…

The Land Shark Pokemon grinned mischievously as she waved a small translucent topaz-yellow stone in her tiny paw. Big black eyes crinkled slightly as the royal blue Pokemon grinned from ear to ear. Even if Gible had tried to act innocent, it was obvious who the guilty party was.

"Stop that – Miss Shirona?"

Rowan halted stalk-still in his steps, taking in the odd scene of the mini-shark Pokemon and young Cynthia. Once he regained an even breath, he looked up at the duo with furrowed brows.

"Did you actually... catch this Shiny Pokemon, Miss Shirona?"

Gible growled.

Cynthia innocently cocked her head to the side, barely taking note of Gible's rude hostility. "What's a Shiny Pokemon?" It wasn't that Cynthia wanted to change the topic, for she truly was confounded there. Cynthia kept hearing people mention the term, but so far, she had absolutely no clue as to what it was. Gray-eyes could only deduct that it had _something_ to do with Gible.

Rowan paused in shock, "You mean you've had this Pokémon – one that is obviously different than others in your presence this whole time – and still don't know what it is?"

"Gible's a _she – _not an _it_," Cynthia frowned before blood rushed to her cheeks. Wow, if that wasn't rude, she didn't know what was.

Nonetheless, Rowan inclined at his mistake. "My apologies," the Professor paused. "Would you care to know what Shiny Pokémon are?" His tone was sincere.

Cynthia hesitated, before shyly nodding.

Just as Rowan took a breath, the older professor noticed the faint twitch of Steven's lips. Odd. The young Stone never showed much emotion, and yet…

Rowan suddenly let his own lip upturn slightly.

"Mr. Steven," as bright golden eyes glanced up, Rowan continued decisively. "Why don't you explain to Miss Shirona?"

Steven tilted his head in puzzlement, but stepped up anyway, smiling faintly at Cynthia.

"Shiny Pokémon, otherwise known as rare-colouration Pokémon, are Pokémon with odd colours to say the least. Some sort of mutation may have caused some to change its shades, and for some odd reason, all with this rare trait have the same altered colour. Either way, Shiny Pokémon are by far rarer than all Pokemon – excluding Legendries, or one-specie Pokémon – and most believe them to be myths because only a handful of trainers out there have one," Steven recited from memory, before suddenly gasping. "Oh yeah!" he crooked towards her, "Did you know that Sinnoh's own Champion has one? You're just like him!"

"Really?" Cynthia blinked in wonderment, her lips shaping in to a small 'o' at the comparison. "What Pokémon is it?"

Steven immersed himself in thought, taking a moment before he recalled the light back in his amber eyes. He nodded, as if to himself to be sure. "A Shiny Ninetales, I believe. Instead of the normal thick, luxurious gold-cream fur, as well as having nine tails each dipped with amber shades, Champion Artemis has a Ninetales with a silky, star-silver pelt and all nine tails tipped with faint powder-blue. Truly a sight to behold, if you've ever seen him battle with her on TV."

Cynthia strained to imagine the Pokémon, but since she herself hadn't ever seen a Ninetales in her life, it was quite hard. "Anyone else?" Cynthia asked with a quirk in her brow, hoping for different Pokémon to connect to, one that she'd be able to understand.

Gible burrowed into her chest, hiding her little treasure from view. Cynthia smothered a smile at the utter _adorableness_ of her.

"Hmm," Steven quickly snapped his fingers. "Oh! There's also the consecutive winner, six years in a row, of the Sinnoh Grande Festival. She's _the _Top Coordinator of Sinnoh at the moment."

Cynthia went rigid all over, and Gible immediately noticed. Big black eyes looked at her with concerned interest. "What's her name?" she asked stiffly, ignoring the curious look of the Land Shark Pokémon I her arms.

"Top Coordinator Camilla. Camilla Whight," Steven looked up in thought, "She's odd for an adult, not minding everyone calling her by her first name, including youths. She also shouts out interesting and original battle-lines each time she sends her Pokémon out, like: _Gardevoir, dance your beat! – _or _– Charm them, Snorunt! _– and you know, etcetera."

_Wait. Snorunt? And Gardevoir, the final evolution of Ralts? _

_...no_...

Cynthia hugged a very confused Gible closer to her as a dark shadow blanketed her face.

Rowan chuckled lightly, breaking into the conversation. "It seems you're very… _interested_ in her Mr. Steven."

"Wha-_!_?" Steven shook his head rapidly, his cheeks flaming. "I w-would never! Camilla is more than twice my age, despite her appearance. She's in her late thirties, for your information! Plus her Pokémon are so high-levelled, compared to mine..."

"Still, you seem to know a lot about her," Professor lifted up fairly amused eyebrows as he crossed his arms.

"It's not my fault that every Pokémon Center has a television in the freaking lounge." Steven muttered disdainfully.

"Ah, but you admit you take the time to watch it, correct?" Rowan teased grandfatherly.

Steven harrumphed, crossing his arms. "Well I can't go ahead and change the channel when ten _other _guys are watching too."

"Watching _too…_?" Rowan laughed lightly at Steven's flushing cheeks – whether of embarrassment or anger, the Professor would never know. Right before Steven was about to impulsively retort, his amber-eyes suddenly detected a very quiet gray-eyed blonde.

An _eerily _quiet gray-eyed blonde.

"Is something the matter, Cynthia?" Concern laced each of his words.

Cynthia snapped out of her blank phase, and smiled. It was a smile that was too bright, too warm, too… false. "Yeah, m'okay," she answered softly. Gible scowled at her obvious lie, but the blonde had already taken a slow breath, again ignoring or oblivious to Gible's sentiment. "What Shiny Pokémon does M-Ms. Whight have?"

"She has a male Shiny Arcanine," Steven slowly recalled, deciding to not question her odd mood and stammer with a flick of his eyes.

"His head is covered in a cream-colored hair, like the average specie, except for the region around his eyes and ears, which instead of the typical Aracanine orange, it's a pure white-gold. His body is a combination of the jasmine fur with black stripes and completely black fur on his belly. He also has patches of cream-colored fur on his chest, legs, and tail, resembling smoke. His paws each have three toes and a round pink paw pad underneath," Steven paused abruptly, "It's kind of funny."

"What is?" Cynthia questioned, before biting her tongue.

"Well, many people around Sinnoh, perhaps more than eighty-percent of the female population and a few males believe the two – Champion Artemis and Top Coordinator Camilla – are a match made in heaven, decided by Arceus himself, and that even Ho-Oh would fly by to bless them. They also have similar Pokémon, which is the oddest part. They both have majestic fire-types who are both Shiny Pokémon and of different genders _which so happened_ to be compatible. The public believe that to be a sign of fate. But," Steven rolled his amber eyes, "Champion Artemis seems to be oblivious to the female populace in and of itself. He's never had a girlfriend, and admitted to it too." Steven let out a chuckle at the end.

"Now what's so funny?" Cynthia quirked a brow.

Laughing amber eyes locked with inquisitive steel-gray. "Well, when the Paparazzi found out about _that, _women from all over were basically throwing themselves onto him. Champion Artemis has been at the top of all trainers for ten or so years, and his fan-clubs are _still_ piling up with new members," Steven smiled a small smile. "Yeah, I'd hate to be Champion."

"Excuse me?" Did she hear right?

"'I'd hate to be Champion...?'"

"You don't want to be Champion?!" Her eyes almost fell out of her sockets.

"Nope."

"But – the fame – the fortune and… well, don't all trainers want to be Champion?" Cynthia always thought so. All aspiring Pokémon trainers that traveled by her hometown were only passing by to enter the less-than-dangerous pass into Snowpoint City or to try through an even harder trail through Mt. Coronet for training experience. Cynthia herself had been in Snowpoint City – she was lucky that Grandpa Kenshin and Grandma Carolina had a Flygon and Altaria respectively – when she had to babysit some kids there.

"Well," Steven broke through her contemplations with a thinned smile, "I suppose it'd be neat to know you're the best of a whole region. Really, I wonder what it would be like if all the Champions battled each other," he scratched his neck. "But then, if you think about all the paperwork, the boring hours waiting at the high podium for incoming trainers, or the press always over your private moments – I don't think it's worth it."

"So you're saying you could become Champion if you actually wanted to…?" Cynthia couldn't help but smile at his unusual cockiness.

"We'll, perhaps." Steven's face was blank, but his amused eyes were another story.

"Oh great, all knowing Steven Stone! How can I ever part onto the harsh roads without your knowledge?" Cynthia teased.

"Well, why don't you both travel together? You're bothering my assistants with all this chatter."

Cynthia instantly jumped up in alarm and Gible yelped at her sudden reaction.

_Holy, was Professor Rowan there the whole time?_

"Oh no, I can't," Steven waved his hands frantically. "I really should be going back to Hoenn–"

"Nonsense. I'll have a word with your father – and don't you argue back. Even I know all you do in Hoenn is tedious paperwork in your father's study. Either that or holing yourself up in some dark cave, hunting for Arceus knows what." Rowan narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms sternly, "You need fresh air young man."

_Paperwork?_ Cynthia scowled in befuddlement. _I feel so left out…_

"Fine, fine," Steven turned to her then, snapping the blonde from her bitter musings, and smiled a thin smile. "Would you mind me tagging along on your journey?"

"**Gible!**" the Land Shark Pokémon nodded curtly in Cynthia's arms, eyeing Steven with unhampered suspicion.

Cynthia laughed, her eyes crinkling at the little Pokémon's antics, "Oh c'mon Gible. He's not _that_ bad."

Gible wrinkled her nose.

"I could make you your own chew toy, Gible." Steven bribed with a slight smile. Gible glared heatedly. "Oh don't look at me that way. I know your breed of Land Shark Pokémon have the tendency to… bite things."

Gible huffed cutely before burrowing herself back into Cynthia.

Cynthia beamed, turning to the two men. "I think she agreed!"

Gible made a noncommittal sneeze.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot." Rowan treaded over to his office, before coming back with five pokéballs in his hands and a small lump in his lab-coat pocket. "Here, Miss Shirona. I don't know how you caught this Gible – perhaps Johanna gave you a pokéball to start with and you were lucky enough to catch her – but I do believe you'll need more Pokémon in your party. Scanning Pokémon with the pokédex isn't as exhilarating as catching one. But I suppose you already know that!" Before Cynthia could interrupt, really she wanted to, especially once she caught sight of a glowering Gible in her arms, the Professor continued on before her mouth fully opened.

"I am not done. I also have a small trial item I would like you two to try out."

"Trial.. item?" The teens chorused skeptically.

Rowan nodded affirmatively, "Yes. Devon Corporation," Cynthia noticed him eyeing Steven strangely, "has a new prototype Pokégear invented by the President himself, who had wanted to find a way to keep track of a Pokémon's feelings. It can check the Conditions of your Pokémon for contests and work as a worldwide phone, but it's main purpose is a map, which will be of good use to people with no sense of direction," this time he glanced bemusedly her.

Cynthia flushed crimson and the Professor dug into his lab coat pocket for the referred item.

It appeared to be small, compact-disc-shaped device, beige-orange in colour with a small, slate-gray plate at the top and a bright blue button in the middle. Cynthia lifted her fingers and took the hand-sized Pokégear, marvelling at how complex it was as she pressed the blue button. The 'top' pushed back and folded out, flipping a small screen into view with the coordinates of the Sinnoh map.

"Woah, this is pretty high tech!" Cynthia exclaimed, locking onto one of the cities on the cursor titled _Jubilife City._

The Professor stuffed his hands back into his pockets. "The President was hoping for a more compact Key Item, preferably watch size, but it seems a new company in Jubilife City may beat him to it. He's only recently released a duel-screen Pokédex – the black one you have – with the Sinnoh Pokémon included, and is multitasking to make another one with the Unova Pokémon as well, after he heard the about the Pokétch Company being established. All regions used to only have Pokédexes that only comprised their own regional Pokémon, but ever since Devon Corporation began butting heads with Silph Co, more and more inventions are being created at a rapid rate. Perhaps in a few years, one of the two Presidents will be able to make all that is needed in the world."

"Yeah probably. He's holed himself into his office for nearly twelve years." Steven muttered bitterly. Cynthia looked up from the contraption with sudden concern, for she was close enough to catch his strange statement. He suddenly looked up, noticing Cynthia's eyes on him, and smiled.

It was the same smile as hers. Too bright. Too warm.

Too false.

_What's wrong with Steven? _Cynthia furrowed her brows. _Does he know the President of one of the corporations? _Cynthia shook her head. _Whatever. I won't dig into his past as long as he won't dig into mine._

"So, I guess we should get going then!" Cynthia beamed happily at the Professor, "Thanks for the pokéballs Professor."

"You're welcome, Miss Shirona," he bowed his head slightly and turned to Steven. "I'll contact your father later today. Will telling him you'll be gone for a few months or so be acceptable?"

Steven nodded curtly. "Thank you."

"Alright. Good day, and may your journey be blessed," Professor Rowan folded his hands behind his back. As if an afterthought, he half-shouted, "Don't get lost in Jubilife City! There are gangs by the back alleyways!"

"See you!" Cynthia smiled gratefully, waving her unoccupied hand as she quickly strolled to the entrance. Gible, for some odd reason, seemed to be smirking conceitedly as Cynthia hugged her closer. Steven nodded once to the Professor, murmuring his thanks and farewells before they both stepped out of the laboratory building, into their new adventure.

The last thing Cynthia heard from the Professor was a gruff mutter. "Now where is that Shiny Stone?"

* * *

**Author's Notes**

**(02/06/12): **Good? Bad? Should I continue, or is this whole story a mess and I should never write in the Pokémon Universe again? Anyway, just so you all know, this story _is _back in the past, so the characters are slightly OOC because they haven't matured yet, and some things haven't even been made yet. That's why I had to explain some of it here. Sorry if this chapter was boring, since it was all spent in the Professor's lab. Next time, I'll be writing more about the battles and stuff!

**(PS): **Thanks for all who helped me revise my previous chapters! I love constructive criticism in my reviews, since I can't find myself a beta-reader. Anyway, if anyone spots more mistakes in this chapter, please tell me! I'll try and update weekly!


	4. Rose and Thorn

**Author's Note: **Just so you all know, the random trainers are from the actual game – I'm too lazy to make up OCs, unless I have to (like the 'new' rival OC I made for Cynthia). Let's just pretend it's normal for kids/people to dress up exactly alike in and around the Pokémon world if they're in the same "trainer-class" – okay?

Oh, and just so you readers know, _all _the Pokémon in this will know at maximum **six **movies instead of the original four, since I seriously doubt a Pokémon would only know four moves in a life-like scenario. Sorry if you guys don't like this change, but deal with it. (Besides, it made the probability of Cynthia guessing one of Gible's moves correctly more realistic.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

* * *

**Battle 4: ****Rose and Thorn  
**_New rivals, as you fight for survival._

* * *

"I can't believe you! How could you take the Professor's...," Cynthia flailed around for a word, gesturing her arms at the object with an incredulous expression.

"Shiny Stone," Steven supplied, almost smiling at her antics.

"Yeah, that!" Cynthia shot a furious glare down at the culprit, pulling her hands back and onto her hips.

Gible grinned up mischievously, dark eyes alight with laughter as she fiddled with the implied, glowing stone in her royal-blue forepaws. She arrogantly tossed it in the air, obviously mocking the wound-up blonde, and caught it.

Once. Cynthia's eyebrow twitched.

Twice. Cynthia closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath.

Thri – Suddenly Cynthia angrily lunged for the rock, snatching it in mid-air and Gible immediately released an adorable pout, knowing her fun was over. Cynthia really couldn't take a tease without snapping, could she?

Cynthia huffily examined the palm-sized Shiny Stone in her hand. It was surprisingly smooth and the glossy texture felt similar to washed-away sea glass. A brilliant, blurry glow emitted from the center of the translucent rock – much so that Cynthia herself could only squint as she studied it – as if the innards were hollow and the golden light inside was defying gravity, floating in the central spot with no energy whatsoever. It was beautiful – and _someone _had stolen it.

With a final cross glare at a still-smiling Gible, Cynthia glanced over her shoulder in dread, tightening her fist around the Shiny Stone as she considered the seemingly endless narrow trail behind them. She nearly wailed outwardly as she turned a miserable look onto Steven. "Should we retrace our steps to the Professor's laboratory?" she whimpered. _How did we _not _notice Gible playing with it this whole time?_

"Nah," Steven broke into her thoughts, shaking his head faintly and stuffing his hands into his pockets as a chilling wind passed. He looked on forward and began walking. "We're already close to Jubilife City, so we'd be wasting our time going back."

"But we can't just waltz off with his stuff!" Cynthia retorted, crossing her arms indignantly as she quickly tailed him. Gible looked up as she noticed the two continuing their light trek and followed loyally with an inaudible snicker.

Steven gently rubbed his neck, seemingly uncaring as he silently noted the surrounding trees passing by with lazy amber pools.

"I'm sure the Professor can find another Shiny Stone himself. They aren't necessarily too hard to find." His lips suddenly pulled into a excited grin, the drowsy glint disappearing instantly as he finally dragged his full attention onto his blonde companion, eyes alight as he walked.

"In fact, I have quite a fair amount of these peculiar rocks. Shiny Stones glow miraculously with dazzling, mysterious light as you've seen, and I'm still trying to figure out how it shines without any source of known energy. It's beautiful, like an Ember captured in translucent glass, eternally radiant. The stone is surprisingly smooth, like real glass or crystal, and usually vary from the size of an adult human's thumbnail to the size of one's entire hand. So far, the stone itself is scarce in the wild, as many jewelers love to collect and sell them as females' trinkets, and there aren't too many known Pokémon that use it for their evolution. From my knowledge, Pokémon that need to be exposed to these stones to evolve are Minccino, Togetic –" he cut off, either ignoring or oblivious to Cynthia's suspiciously raised hand (which may or may not have been about to clamp onto his mouth) and suddenly pointed north-east of the blonde.

"Hey, there's another one over there!"

"Eh?" Cynthia had been _this close _to shutting him up again – with her trusty right palm, since her left was occupied – until her interest was piqued.

She whirled and caught a faint blur of pastel pink and baby-breath blue by a thick trunk of a nearby fir tree. She blinked once, now fully revolved towards Steven's focussed direction. Cynthia lightly cocked her head to the side and furrowed her thin brows in confusion. She could have sworn to Mew she saw the same vivid colours back at Twinleaf Town and smell the same tantalizingly sweet scent from the garden.

But that didn't make sense.

As was stated by the Pokénav in Cynthia's black satchel, Steven and Cynthia were on Route 202, a winding path that twisted through grassy fields and tall fir trees.

The small device also warned them of the young trainers that liked to test their battle skills round the road but so far Cynthia hadn't seen one, excluding her amber-eyed companion. Instead, the Ponyta-tailed blonde observed with interest of the Shinx and Bidoof giddily frolicking in and about the bushy undergrowth, noting that not one came by for a wild battle, much to Cynthia's evident dismay.

On the journey, she had slowly resolved to truly try in Pokémon battles from then on. Perhaps her virtuous opinion before had been biased: the fact that battles seemed unethical and such. Because during her sort-of battle with Gible and that spaceman freak, Cynthia realized afterwards that she had somehow enjoyed it – and Gible did as well – and now they _both _seem to like each other more. Like Steven insisted on before, battles somehow levelled-up bonds of friendship.

Though, perhaps it was a sign of luck that no battle-ready trainers were near at the moment, since she didn't exactly _have _a Pokémon to battle _with. _

Gible didn't count – she was a friend and companion, nothing more and nothing less.

Cynthia wildly shook her head from her contemplations, drawing an amused glance of amber orbs, and retained her determined search. Maybe she should see the eye doctor in Jubilife City. She couldn't find hide nor hair of any Pokémon in the general direction Steven indicated. At all. Her sight was only encompassed with green shrubs and looming firs.

"What does it look like?" Cynthia asked, returning her attention to Steven after a minute of futile pursuit.

"Can't you see? It's –" Steven gestured over with one hand, crooking his head over in the previous direction, before his full attention was stolen. "What the–?" he furrowed his silver brows, lowering his arm, "Bu – but I swear, I thought one was there. Even if almost none of them live in this area…" He narrowed his eyes confusedly, "Huh. Maybe you frightened it away, because I swear, a Ros– "

"_Me?"_ Cynthia narrowed her eyes, perhaps taking the expression a bit too seriously. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I caught that right."

"What? That maybe you frightened it away?"

Cynthia gaped. "How could I have frightened it? If anyone's scary around here, any human that is, you'd be at the top. I mean really, silver hair and bright, unnatural yellow eyes? Where'd you even buy those contacts?"

"Hey, for your information, I was naturally born with these eyes!"

"Right..." Cynthia trailed off disbelievingly.

"I'm not kidding!" he huffed before a comeback lit up his golden eyes. "We'll, at least_ I_ didn't bleach my hair blonde. I like my hair natural, even if it's gray." He raised his chin smugly, running his large hand through his silver-blue hair as if to prove his point.

"What? This is natural! I've even seen people with natural blue hair, not to mention bright _purple _hair in my life."

"But exactly how many natural platinum blondes exist?"

"And exactly how many natural granny-haired guys exist?" Cynthia pointed out.

"This isn't granny-haired!"

"No? Then what else can describe gray?"

"You just said silver before!"

"Did not." Cynthia denied, pouting faintly.

"Did too."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yeah huh."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"No…?"

"Yes!"

"Yes!" Steven cheered.

"No!" Cynthia quickly cried.

"No?"

"Yes!"

"So yes?"

"I said _no._"

"No?"

"Yes."

"Yes!" Steven grinned triumphantly.

Cynthia exasperated, slapping a hand onto her forehead despairingly. "You know what? Even rolling my eyes would be a waste of time and energy on you."

"Aw, thanks Cyn." Steven placed his hand onto his chest, "That really means a lot to me."

"Y-you – Argh!" Cynthia stormed off ahead, Gible in full out laughter behind her.

Suddenly Gible looked up, sniffing the air. Cynthia, noticing the sharp straightening of the Land Shark Pokémon at her side, threw a questioning glance at her.

Before the blonde could attempt to ask the blue-and-yellow Pokémon, Gible abruptly broke into a dash for a bushy patch of grass a few steps ahead of her, wading through the tall, thin undergrowth with a determined glint in her black eyes before nearly vanishing into the shrubberies, save for her ultramarine shark-fin above the bushes.

"Gible?" Cynthia drew her blonde brows together in confusion.

After a short breadth of silent pause, the tall grasses shook more and more violently as Gible scampered rowdily through them.

Strangely, the Pokémon stilled a few lengths away, near a large tree trunk, and Cynthia swore she heard two Pokélanguage voices erupt quietly – a cute one for Gible, and another more melodic sounding one, though she couldn't make it out – until the Land Shark's fin bobbed once, quickly sped off into a different direction and halted once more undoubtedly several yards away. A noiseless moment passed before Gible's fin sharply streamed through the tall grasses before popping out of the bushes with a clumsy trip. _Thump_. Cynthia automatically smiled as she observed Gible, yellow-bellied stomach face down in the pathway dirt with a palpable scowl tugging her mouth as she glared adorably ahead.

Cynthia squatted down, lanky knees side-by-side and barely balancing on the balls of her feet, her arms folded into her stomach. She cocked her head to the side with an amused and teasing grin. "You alright Gible?"

Said Land Shark scowled at her mocking comment and quickly scrambled onto her feet with as much dignity as she could gather before huffily craning her head away from the human in front of her, as if repulsed. "**Gib**," she sniffed.

Cynthia lifted her brow in question, drawing an inquisitive look as Gible unfolded her paws, which she had only then forced forward after snuffing the still-entertained blonde.

A red spray-can. That was all there was to it. Although it was approximately the size of a typical window-sprayer and shaped oddly at that, with a bell-like red bottom, white-over cover and a tiny, mahogany-hued nozzle, the bottle was sort of cute. A small pokéball symbol in the same shade of rubicund was stamped on each side of the white part, and Cynthia deduced them to be the buttons to start spraying whatever was inside. It was shoved closer to her as Gible moved her arms – though the Land Shark Pokémon was still facing away from her.

Cynthia smiled.

A gift for her.

Gible sent a backward glance from the corner of her black eyes, curious of Cynthia's reaction. She grinned almost victoriously as Cynthia uncrossed one arm and reached over to pluck the gift from her paws.

"**Gible, Gib-Gib!**"

Although Cynthia had absolutely no clue of what Gible exactly said, she caught the general gist of it, and immediately swathed the mini-shark in a quick hug.

As Cynthia stood up, an afterthought crossed over, and sent a look to Gible. "Don't think you're off the hook on that Shiny Stone incident, though."

Gible made a noncommittal sniff.

Steven watched them in amusement as he caught up to the blonde, taking a curious peek over her shoulder at the remarkable present. "So Gible picked up a Super Potion for you? Huh, I thought only Pokémon with the ability Pickup could do that," he nosily leaned in closer in snooping examination.

"Oh yeah! That's what it's called! A Super Potion – a good wound remedy, just slightly more effective than the regular Potion," Cynthia beamed happily down at the medicine item, "Ha, maybe those brief Pokémon School lessons weren't that bad," before decisively slipping it into a wide pocket in her shadowy-black satchel.

After Cynthia zipped up the fold and flipped the bag's front flap over, she slowly bent down, lightly patted Gible's head (who scowled sulkily at the pet-like appreciations) before scooping the Land Shark Pokémon into her arms (as Gible yelped in surprise).

"You went to the Pokémon School?" Steven asked curiously as the threesome began walking once more.

"Yeah, but I dropped out – as did most of the class – at age ten to go on our Pokémon expeditions. Of course, as you can see," Cynthia mockingly gestured herself, keeping Gible stable in the crook of her other arm.

"I didn't go anywhere in particular. Anyway, the rest of the class who did stay wanted to be more prepared instead of learning by personal experience out in the world. I think most of them, which were in my class, would either be graduating in a year or two now to start their journey or going to Pokémon University for more technical schooling. Some I know had great dreams to become Pokémon Breeders, Rangers, Professors, Coordinators or even the Champion of Sinnoh, so it's expected they stay. But," Cynthia placed a finger onto her jawline wondrously, "a few of the dream-Professors left early like the would-be trainers," she lowered her hand and gaze, "I guess you can become whatever you want even without a diploma," she muttered in afterthought.

Steven nodded in understanding, "So what did you do instead if you didn't leave for your jour–"

Suddenly a young Lass, perhaps fourteen-year-old trainer – with typical poufy brown locks, a white dress-shirt, a navy-blue vest and an _über _short skirt to match her school's mandatory red-ribbon – by accident collided into Steven, who _almost _lost his usually sturdy balance and fell.

Keyword: _almost._

Before Steven could intake a breath for any form of comment once he had instinctively stabilized the Lass, the petite girl burst into bawling waterfalls.

"I'm s-so so _so _sorry!" she snivelled with almost exaggerated remorse as she unabashedly burrowed into Steven's open arms.

Steven appeared to be uncomfortably stark still before he awkwardly wrapped his arms around the weeping school-girl, patting her lightly and gently on the back as he tried to console her in his own way. He lightly whispered his obvious forgiveness and comforting nothings, even though the Lass was ultimately soiling his silky, t-shirt-like jacket.

Cynthia smothered the impulse to laugh.

However, just before she wittingly commented about Steven's _legitimately_ suggestive position (especially to the fact that he was possibly three years older than the tiny girl), she suddenly noticed the small, utterly limp ball of brown fur in the young trainer's arms. With a red nose. And buck teeth.

"Sweet Arce – I mean Dialga! Is your Bidoof alright?" Cynthia exclaimed, raising her slender fingers to her widening lips in concern.

The Lass-type trainer turned big brown, tear-glazed eyes onto her and abruptly left Steven (much to his obvious relief) to bawl endless amounts of tears into Cynthia's sweater-clad shoulder.

"S-some passerby trainer beat me! _Me! _Of all the new trainers in my school, not even _one_ has been able to beat me – well, except for Tristan and Logan, but they don't count!" she wailed, thumping one balled-up fist into Cynthia childishly because the other occupied her fainted Bidoof.

"Well it was kind of expected. Males are a superior species when compared to females." A faint scoff. "It's a proven fact."

The threesome (and Gible) spun their full attention to the apathetic voice before Cynthia and Gible's eyes narrowed at the insult.

Brilliant, ocean-blue eyes glittered like cold crystals under the evening sunlight; however, those were probably the most expressive feature to the (around her age) passerby, despite his evident stoicism. His lips were thinned out under high cheekbones and an attractive long nose, and his strong jawline was set in tedium. Midnight blue-black hair framed his fair-skinned face under his black newsboy cap, which shielded him from the bright rays of sunshine.

He casually sported a white t-shirt with a matrix of swirling black designs crawling up from the bottom-left hemline to top left shoulder, along with the same vine-like patterns circling the border of the pre-cut sleeves. Underneath that he wore a navy-blue long-sleeved chemise rolled up to his elbows (likely because of the recent vestiges of summer heat), a pair of stone-washed, baggy blue jeans and some white, tinted-cobalt converse. Cynthia frowned internally as she silently noted the small, silver-circle earring in his left ear – for she herself didn't wear earrings. At all.

She thought they were too _girly _to wear.

How ironic.

The anonymous teen flicked his startling blue eyes over to the Lass, pulling one hand into his pocket while the other shrugged his sagging knapsack back in place. "So don't blame yourself that you were born female. Maybe blame Arceus – if it even exists. Legends and myths aren't always right, plus they're boring." He walked closer at a leisurely pace.

The Lass flinched visibly at the sight before she instantaneously sped out of Cynthia's arms, sobbing rather stridently as she raced down the winding trail. Cynthia absently noted her stumbling at one point as she indignantly traipsed through the entrance of Gible's treasure-hunted area, practically screaming about _stupid, brightly coloured weeds_ that nearly tripped her, before running off in an even more miserable state. A faint sting of pity and strange compassion prickled Cynthia, and she turned to the still-unresponsive culprit in their midst.

The blue-eyed boy gradually tilted his head, mussing his Murkrow-hued hair to the runaway before blinking at the other two in blank indifference.

Cynthia gritted her teeth. "You know, that wasn't very nice." Cynthia scowled, narrowing her thin brows as Gible crossed her stubby arms and nodded in glaring agreement.

"I'm only speaking the truth though;" the boy shrugged, hands in his pockets. "In all physical and mental things, science has shown that men are better, so to speak."

Really, this guy was seriously grating on her nerves. First he dared to say myths were _boring _and he was still spouting on about females being inferior? _Euh. _Cynthia instinctively squeezed Gible closer (who started slightly at the unexpected contact). _He's such a sexist!_

"Why? Do you want to prove me wrong?" He cut straight into her maddened thoughts. However, this time she noticed the aloof air around him faintly simmered down and his lips twitched slightly. "Another girl wanting to beat me?" He raised an ebony eyebrow in open question.

Cynthia directed a daring look to Gible, who easily caught it with a secretive grinning nod.

_Oh this guy is _so _going down._

"Sure. Gible, a _female _Pokémon, and I will win – hands down." Cynthia lifted her chin almost arrogantly.

If Cynthia didn't know better, she could have sworn she saw ghosting amusement flit across his glass-like eyes. As the male teenager swung his chrome orange – _which by the way clashed _horribly_ with the dark blues of his outfit_, Cynthia mentally added – backpack onto the ground, quickly unzipping one of the smaller-sized pouches stitched to the side, he drew out a miniature-sized pokéball into his large hand. Then swiftly, as if in afterthought, he dug into one of the large pockets attached to the lower-half of his baggy-jeans for another red-and-white sphere, bringing forth two pokéballs between three long-limbed fingers.

"Alright, how about we do a simple two-on-two battle?"

"…two-on-two?" Oh no.

"One-on-one battles aren't satisfying and any more than three Pokémon will take a while – I have to check-in a room at the Pokémon Center before they fill out – so two-on-two is best choice." he rationalized with a lifeless shrug. Suddenly something seemed to occur to him. "Hold on, do you not have another Pokémon to battle with other than that Gible?"

"Well – I… I well…" Cynthia casted her humiliated attention to a rather interesting tree.

"You're kidding right?" When he didn't receive a proper answer, he sighed disappointedly, slipping both his pokéballs back into his pant-pocket.

"And to think I believed you to be good, considering you had Shiny Pokémon in your arms. Guess it goes to show that females only rely on guys for anything and everything," he smiled bitterly, glancing over at Steven. "Bet your boyfriend over there caught that Gible, and you begged for it, and in the end you got it – right?"

"Wha – he's not –"

He sighed with a dissatisfied shake of his head, purposely cutting off her words. "You know, you shouldn't even consider being a trainer if you can't catch your own Pokémon. What's the point? For them to be your pets?" his frown intensified. "You disgust me."

Raging fury boiled in Cynthia as she clenched her fists tightly, but she smothered her almost instinctive cusses from erupting.

"Hey, now –" Steven started towards the boy, knavishly furrowing his eyebrows before he was abruptly cut off with a sigh.

"This is all a complete waste of my time. Unless a Pokémon magically appears in the next moment, to help her," he indicated towards Cynthia with a detached wave, "I'm leaving."

Cynthia's nails were digging into her inner palms, forming angry red crescents from them as she tightened her hold. She nearly broke skin. Gible glowered angrily at the boy and instantly leaped out of Cynthia's tightening embrace to snarl at him for actually hurting her blonde, human friend.

The boy shook his head once at the sight, ignoring the hostile Pokémon, and easily stepped around Cynthia and her, obviously indicating his father exasperated departure.

All of a sudden he jumped hastily from his spot, strangely reversing those few paces he took in instinctive recoil. Then, seconds thereafter, a flurry of violent pink rose petals swirled down like a deadly, miniscule tornado – _directly_ onto his previous position.

He still retained his analyzing poker-face in his crouched form, though Cynthia smiled in satisfaction as she noticed him narrowing his brows oh-so-slightly_. Yes, some sort of emotion! But... _

"What in Rayquaza's name just happened?" Steven voiced Cynthia's exact internal thoughts. Well, almost. Hoenn people tended to swear in their own regional Legendries, as did all the other regions, though many used Arceus and Mew when it was truly dire.

Yeah. Cynthia needed to break off that habit of using Origin and New Species Pokémon profanes.

...But really, what exactly had happened here?

"**Rose, Roselia.**"

Cynthia quickly turned to her left, surprised eyes locking with black pearls which seemed to beam at her with secretive triumph. Her whole body immediately tensed.

It was a small-framed Pokémon, with two in-bloom roses placed elegantly on each of its tiny green hands: a blushing pink flower perched perfectly in its right appendage and an oceanic blue one balanced proudly in its left. A narrow dress-like, spring-green leaf was curtaining modestly over its soft, evergreen body and arrow-like legs. Dark leaves the same hue as the 'dress' extended from its shoulders like nifty epaulettes and a pointed streak of sun-yellow clawed straight from its neck down the forefront of its leaf dress-shirt. Three deadly-looking thorns rose on top of its cranium, the same grass-green as the dress-shirt, though the Pokémon's face was far from deadly – in fact –

The woodland Pokémon seemed to be smiling eagerly... at _her_.

It was a good thing. Yes – a very good thing. Cynthia slowly breathed in and out, slowly chanting the mantra in her mind that this Wild Pokémon was not going to hurt her. Will not. _Not like the others. Not like the before. Not like_–

"**Rose?**" It – Roselia, Cynthia easily recollected – batted its eyelashes at her.

"Huh. So you do have another Pokémon to battle with."

Both immediately reeled towards the undesirable guest's voice. Said annoying blue-eyed boy lifted an eyebrow in blatant query and raised three fingers – with two tiny pokéballs held between them. "I don't take getting attacked easily, but no matter how despicable females are," Roselia instinctively growled (Cynthia guessed the Pokemon was also a female at that point), "it is ungentlemanly for one such as myself to hit one. You ready for battle?"

Cynthia locked a stern, inquiring gaze with the Land Shark and their supposedly newest comrade, Roselia.

Although Cynthia was still questioning of the why's and how's of the Thorn Pokémon's presence, she in the end decided to let the indefinite facts slide as of the moment. Instead, she silently sought through and into those two black pearls and blinked twice at the strange, almost bonded friendship-like love in them. Cynthia sighed, but resolved to ask questions later.

"I asked: are you ready?" His voice held a faint, very faint impatient tone.

"Hold on a moment _please_." Cynthia emphasized with a quick flashing, overly sugar-coated smile.

The blonde flipped open her black shoulder-bag, unzipping a rectangular pocket quickly and pulled out her black duel-screen Pokédex electronic. Using that, she swiftly scanned Gible and Roselia for their move-types (Steven had taught her that before the Gible Incident). First she had to go through with learning the facts of their species, and Cynthia felt an impatient tick appear as she heard the slow, monotone of the computerized duel-screen Pokédex.

"Gible, the Land Shark Pokémon. Gible attacks using its huge mouth. While its attacks are powerful, it hurts itself out of clumsiness, too." After the deadpan voice speaker finished, Cynthia's brows lifted once she scrolled down with the stylus to check up Gible's moves.

So far, Gible had _Dragon Rage, Dragonbreath, Sand Attack, Slash, Dig_ and _Sand Tomb_.

"Roselia, the Thorn Pokémon. Roselia's aroma can bring serenity, but the thorns on its head contain a vicious poison." Cynthia scrolled down, and her eyebrows further rose at Roselia's moves: _Magical Leaf, Petal Dance, Aromatherapy, GrassWhistle, Synthesis_ and _Extrasensory._

_They're both actually… really, really strong! No wonder Gible easily defeated that Zubat before. _Cynthia acknowledged with an astonished gape as she skimmed through the moves' information. _But I don't own any Gym Badges yet – and I heard Pokémon caught at a higher level than you can manage won't listen to your orders… _Cynthia observed the two still-Wild Pokémon with a worrying pout.

The small pair caught her look, and cocked their heads simultaneously in evident curiosity and question.

Cynthia took in a breath, "Will you two follow my instructions? No matter what?"

"**Gible, Gib.**" Gible snorted impatiently and rolled her eyes, as if saying: _No duh. Can't you trust me?_

Cynthia smothered the urge to smile, easily able to read Gible's actions rather than her intelligible speech, and turned to Roselia.

The Thorn Pokémon crossed her tiny arms and grinned bemusedly. "**Selia. Roselia.**" An familiar glint brightened her small, glassy eyes and Cynthia felt a warm flashback sharpening into focus.

"Any moment now would suffice," the boy irritably tapped his foot while his low voice and face remained surprisingly impassive, slicing her musing moment in halves.

"I'm usually patient, but not when it's quarter to six. Many people and Pokémon tend to prepare something called _dinner_ right about now."

"Fine, fine." Cynthia rolled her eyes, indicating that she was ready for battle. Suddenly a thought occurred to her, "Hold on. I don't think I ever caught your name."

The boy sighed, "It's not proper to ask for someone's name without introducing yourself first."

Cynthia scowled.

Steven nodded towards Cynthia, amusement dancing in his amber gaze. "Yeah, she did the same to me," he turned towards the boy, bringing forth his hand for a shake, "I'm Steven. You?"

For the first time since she arrived, the black-haired, blue-eyed boy smiled – a polite, greeting smile – as he took Steven's hand. "Call me Sasori."

Cynthia lifted her brows to her hairline as something seemed to dawn on her. She lightly thumped her fist into her palm as she realized her blunder, "Ohhh! I get it. You're gay!"

If either of the boys had drinks in their mouths, they would have automatically sprayed it all over the girl.

"What?"

Steven (unsurprisingly) dropped his hand as Sasori's inexpressive face showed emotion: a jaw-dropped, incredulous gape with brought together brows on the top.

"What did you say?"

Cynthia smiled obliviously, "My apologies. I'm didn't say my name. I'm Cynthia."

"No, not that – I meant your previous… comment."

"You mean that you're a homosexual? Oh don't worry. I'll try not to go all _preacher _on you, though I can't say I'm going to root for your team. Plus, I think interacting with your opposite sex is a good thing, even if you think lowly of them for unjustified reasons. I don't really think Arceus had same-sex relationships in mind when he made _both _males and females. I mean, there's gotta be a reason why only straight people have babies, right?"

Both males were silent, though you could distinctly hear very faint, muffled laughter from a certain silver-haired boy, who had his hand suspiciously over his mouth.

"Do I _look _homosexual to you?" Sasori eventually managed in visible disbelief.

Cynthia slowly eyed his one (though notably small) silver circlet-earring and quietly noted the silver-plated name-tag necklace hanging at his forefront. She instantly nodded with a bright smile.

"Yep!"

Sasori quietly groaned and Steven unleashed his laughter. Cynthia furrowed her brows at them in confusion.

"You know what?" Sasori flicked his exasperated blue eyes to her, "Let's just get this straight – _I'm straight_ – heterosexual. Got it? Now let's battle."

Before Cynthia could blink, Sasori quickly enlarged one of his red pokéballs and effortlessly tossed it into the sky.

"Prepare yourself – Dratini!"

The spinning pokéball abruptly popped open its lid and a bright crimson light shot onto the grassy field ahead of them, taking on a snake-like shape, before Cynthia perceived its actual physical characteristics.

It appeared to be a serpentine Pokémon with white, wing-like fins similar to ears on its head, as well as a small, white circular dot on its forehead. Leathery, periwinkle-blue skin seemed to glow marvellously as it upstretched itself into the evening sun, exposing a long, snake-like body with a white-skinned underbelly. A pair of loyal, intelligent dark violet eyes stared curiously at her over its large, round silver-hued nose as it lifted its head before it craned over to its trainer. "**Dratini?**"

Cynthia smilingly gawked at the _adorable _mini-dragon and scrambled for her black Pokédex, locking onto the serpent-like Pokémon with ease.

"Dratini, the Dragon Pokémon," the computerized voice droned, "Dratini is often called the 'Mirage Pokémon' because so few have seen it. Dratini also sheds its skin as it grows, regularly doing so while hidden behind large powerful waterfalls."

"Huh, that's neat," she scrolled down, "and Sasori's Dratini... is a male," Cynthia tch-ed under her breath, "Typical. As if he'd own a female."

She turned from her duel-screen to the two Pokémon at her side. An impatient-looking Gible sucked in her cheeks as she painstakingly waited with hands behind her back, rocking back and forth on her feet with a compulsory, out-of-tune hum. However, Roselia, calm and collected, instead crossed her arms elegantly at her chest, opposite-hued roses tucked under her elbows with a watchful, keen eye towards the battlefield. Cynthia rearranged her face to an inviting beam. "So who wants to go first?"

"**Gible!**" Gible frantically waved its tiny, chubby arms like an excited grade-school student. Roselia merely lifted her gaze at Cynthia, the stifled hopeful glint not bypassing the blonde.

"Okay, why don't you go first Roselia?" Cynthia requested politely, smothering her impulsive giggle at Gible's jaw drop.

The Thorn Pokémon complied with a superior smirk shot at Gible, who glowered in disbelief. The Land Shark whirled onto Cynthia. "**Gible Gi, Gi, Gible**_**!**_**?**" Obviously, even to the two male bystanders, Gible was protesting about why Cynthia chose the _newbie _over her.

Cynthia respired, casting her gray-eyes onto the defiantly scowling blue-and-yellow shark. "Gible, I know you're powerful and all, but if we just battle Sasori with you, I'll never learn about Roselia's battle style." Gible immediately stormed off, sulking rather noticeably with the occasional dark mutter. Cynthia almost smiled at her endearing antics and before she marched off to the battle ground, she softly casted over her shoulder with a slight smile; "Besides, if Roselia's knocked out in this round, you could show her up by beating both of this guy's Pokémon."

Gible blinked owlishly up at Cynthia, processing her words, before an almost sinister grin stretched her face.

"Alright, let's go Roselia!"

Roselia readily leaped onto the grasslands with her thin arms tense like a boxer's and her duel-roses poised and dutifully prepared. Dratini glanced back from his trainer, noticing the initiation of the battle and in doing so, quickly slithered into battle ready formation, dark-violet eyes narrowing into determination.

Sasori pulled up his black newsboy cap and nodded, almost to himself. "Okay, I'll go first. Dratini, start off with a Twister."

Dratini acknowledged the command and immediately conjured up a small, though violently chaotic, tornado hurtling towards the Thorn Pokémon opponent.

"Roselia, swirl a Petal Dance to negate it!" Cynthia recalled a recent battle contest on television that had used the same move, and it worked wonderfully. Hopefully it would work now.

Roselia nodded and quickly spun around to face the Twister head on, unleashing pink flower petals out from her opening rose blossoms into a whirling spiral towards the small hurricane. The two spiralling attacks met and clashed, fighting each other until the excess power caused a loud booming smokescreen.

As the aftermath breeze cleared the field, Cynthia narrowed her eyes as she noticed Sasori slowly, mockingly clap his hands. His face was impassive. "Well done. You actually made it through my first move. However, you can't win with merely draws."

He pointed towards Roselia. "Dratini, use Twister once more!"

"Dodge it this time Roselia!" Cynthia quickly cried out as another, but much swifter cyclone whirled towards the Thorn Pokémon. Right as Roselia leaped into the air to dodge, Sasori ordered on the spot, as if he had predicted her decisive order beforehand.

"Now use serial Dragon Rage!"

Said blue-and-white snake Pokémon leaned back slightly as his little forehead dot/sphere glowed before he released a swirling, smoky blue-flecked-yellow beam of spheres at the airborne Roselia.

"Dodge it!" Cynthia quickly shouted, but it was too late. Roselia couldn't evade in the air in the first place.

"**Seee-lia!**" the Thorn Pokémon howled as it was blown back from the electrifying forces.

"Oh no!" Cynthia automatically exclaimed as she saw Roselia dragging across the grassland, leaving a trailing indent before she stopped, helplessly flopping onto her back with a puff of dust. "Get up Roselia," Cynthia hysterically gestured over towards a smirking Dratini as she regarded Roselia laid down and panting severely, "or else you'll get hit again!"

Sasori almost grinned, almost, but didn't. "Dratini, slither up and use Aqua Tail."

With a light grunt, Roselia got onto one knee, one pearl-black eye twitching in slight pain as the snake-like dragon zigzagged over to her. Cynthia quickly bellowed out, "Roselia, use Magical Leaf!" Roselia nodded and conjured up glowing, rainbow-hued leaves from her roses before firing them at the close-ranged Dratini. The Dragon Pokémon, unsuspecting of the attack, hurtled back at the quick and accurate blows.

"Keep doing it until you can't see through the aftermath smoke Roselia!" cried Cynthia, thumping the air with her fists. Roselia acknowledged the command and kept swirling luminous leaves at the Dragon-type opponent. "**Drat-iii-n-**" Dratini yelped as it felt the shower of leaves hurtling at him senselessly.

"Bat away the leaves with Dragon Tail, Dratini."

Dratini willingly endured the sharp, hammering leaves for a moment longer as his tail glowed a bright, electrical blue before he used it to swat the incoming leaves from further advance until Roselia finally ran out of energy.

Sasori graced his Pokémon with a thin smile. "Use Thunder Wave on Roselia now, Dratini."

The Dragon Pokémon dutifully complied, quickly diming his Dragon Tail to swiftly slide towards the weary Thorn Pokémon with a determined glint in his eye, even in his rather battered state.

"Roselia, watch out!" shouted Cynthia, the worried tone not going unnoticed.

The Thorn Pokémon instantly looked up and a rapid moment passed as the Dragon-type got closer by the second. Roselia quickly glanced over to Cynthia, awaiting a fast order to intervene, but heard none coming forth until Dratini was undesirably a yard or so at her front.

"Roselia – umm, use… use," Cynthia fought for a move under the intensely high pressure, "use Extrasensory to stop Dratini!"

But Cynthia was much too late as she finished her stressed command. Dratini had already charged up a feeble jolt of electricity and released the lesser charge straight for Roselia, who instantaneously flinched as the weak voltage flowed through her, slowing her movement dramatically.

"Follow it up with some successive Agility."

Dratini quietly closed his eyes in front of a paralyzed Roselia, slowly relaxing his muscles and thus making then lighten dramatically, until his small eyes snapped open and his whole body illuminated a bright whitish light. Suddenly the serpentine Pokémon flashed forward, sideways, backwards and so on, his speed increasing by the second around the Thorn Pokémon.

Roselia whipped her head side-to-side, trying her utmost hardest to follow the tremendous speeds of the Dragon Pokémon, but failing horribly with her paralysis state and almost confused herself.

Cynthia's eyes widened, knowing that if she didn't act soon, Roselia wouldn't even be able to go through with an attack, not to mention hit the speedy Dratini. She racked her brain for something, and soon an idea lit up. "Roselia, use GrassWhistle once you can move!"

Sasori almost rolled his eyes, but forced his countenance into questioning stoicism. Really, was Cynthia in her right of mind? GrassWhistle had very low accuracy, so the probability of the green physical notes hitting his extremely fast and agile Dratini was low, very low. However, if she did somehow hit Dratini, then Sasori knew he'd be in a fix. Sleep-induced Pokémon were never good to keep battling with, but Sasori wanted to beat this _girl _with his weakest Pokémon.

That would show her.

No, he _will_ show her. Cynthia didn't have a chance in the Distortion World to actually land the sleep spell.

As Roselia faithfully complied as she felt her body stop tingling for a moment – with slight hesitance because of Cynthia's previous incompetence, but quickly hit herself for doubting Cynthia's orders – and opened her mouth to release beautiful melodious green notes into the air to hit Dratini. However, once she did release the large notes, Roselia once again questioned why Cynthia had made her do so, when it was obvious that the notes wouldn't even be able to catch up to Dratini, not to mention hit him.

"Quick Roselia, use Magical Leaf!"

It was instantaneous. Roselia's hand-roses glowed white and released a swarm of mysterious greenish-rainbow hued leaves, and being the never-missing attack it was, directly tailed Dratini for contact. Roselia's eyes widened along with the other two opponents as the luminous leaves speedily and unintentionally scooped up the GrassWhistle notes along its path towards Dratini and hit _dead on_ to the unsuspecting Dragon Pokémon.

The Dragon-type immediately felt the intense wave of drowsiness crash onto him despite the Magical Leaf's recent painful damage as a few green GrassWhistle notes burst onto him. Dratini's eyelids became excruciatingly heavy before they inevitably closed as he fell to his side. Little Z's gradually escaped his nose.

Dratini was fast asleep.

Cynthia breathed out her relief and casted a grin to Roselia. The smile quickly dissipated as she perceived the paralyzing sparks still dancing across the Thorn Pokémon's body. Something prickled Cynthia's mind and suddenly she snapped her fingers.

"Oh yeah!"

Steven almost smiled (again) as he heard Cynthia's bright exclaim, before he quickly halted. He noticed then that he seemed to have been doing that a lot as of late – smile, laugh, even _prattle_ on like it was the easiest thing to do in the world. Usually it wasn't. Well, at least for him. However, Cynthia was somehow capable of dragging that strange side out of him, unintentionally too, unlike the various girls in Hoenn who sent him polite smiles and false flatteries.

Steven fiercely shook his head as if he could physically remove those thoughts and looked back onto the battle field.

"Okay, Roselia, once you can move again, use Aromatherapy!"

Steven was rather surprised. Most beginner trainers didn't typically remember their Pokémon's moves until they were completely used to them. In fact, most trainers couldn't even remember what some of the moves _did_. It was shocking in itself that Cynthia was able to remember name, move and information of it all after only a glance from her duel-screen electronic, as if she was born to do this.

A saccharine aroma scented the air, bringing Steven from his contemplations.

Roselia's duel roses were glowing bright gold, gently emancipating sparkling green-yellow powder from the flowers into the air above her. When the delicate dust began floating down onto her, glittering in the sunlight beautifully, her body outlined itself in a light green and temperate waves of light green rippled up her body, calming her muscles and restoring movement from paralysis.

Cynthia grinned triumphantly and zealously punched the air. "Alright, now use Petal Dance! We have to knock out Dratini before he wakes up!"

Roselia's roses stopped shining their golden glow and opened up counter-clockwise to unleash a flurry of swirling pink blossoms from the insides straight at Dratini. Each blushing petal swept through the scent, leaving a sweet-smelling trail of stardust.

"Dratini, dodge!" Sasori ordered, his lips thinning at the incoming attack.

However, Dratini did not budge nor voluntarily move anywhere in particular, even as the monsoon of pink petals pelted him. Even as the floral tornado sent him flying into the air. Even as he freefell onto the earthen grass, causing a loud _whump _sound as his neck snapped to the ground.

Dratini was fast asleep.

Sasori was oddly quiet as he surveyed his Dragon Pokémon with narrowed brows. He was quiet from then on, staring solely at Dratini.

Cynthia took this as a good sign, a sign of her ultimate win of the round. "Keep it up Roselia!"

Roselia complied with an honest smile and discharged another typhoon of dangerously swift sakura blossoms onto the still-sleeping Dratini. But even as the floral whirlwind viscously whipped the Dragon-type into the sky once more, neither Dragon Pokémon nor his trainer moved.

Wait. Did Sasori's lip twitch just then?

Cynthia bit her lower lip. _Does this mean Dratini's going to awaken soon? But how could he know… no, that doesn't matter –_

Her previous train of thought was shattered as a sudden pink windstorm of blossoms soared towards Dratini, weakening the blue serpentine Pokémon greatly once more. However, there was one problem with this. Roselia had initiated an attack – _without her order_.

It wasn't that Cynthia minded. In fact, she was quite happy that Roselia could take on independency during the battle. Surely this was good, since she _had _been drifting off into her thoughts previously, and that wouldn't have been good during battle. One always had to keep up, so she either had to think faster or rely onto instinct. However, Cynthia believed she deserved some sort of explanation. Really, Dratini was asleep! Was there really a problem with thinking during such a time?

Cynthia frowned. "Roselia, why did – _!_?" Her words were instantly broken off as pink petals whirled past her, only and exactly _an inch _to her left side. Cynthia's steel-gray eyes widened.

Roselia's once pearl-black eyes seemed to have spiralled into some sort of blank puzzlement and the strange unknowing grin proved it.

"Roselia?" Cynthia's brows knitted together.

The Thorn Pokémon looked up towards the _opposite _direction of her voice. "**Roselia? Lia, Lia?**"

And right after, Roselia seemed to have gasped appallingly and quickly freed another flowery Petal Dance from her duel roses into a random direction. This happened several times. Then, during one of the attacks, she actually side-stepped into one of her _own _attacks, and buffeted herself.

"Roselia! What are you doing? Attack Dratini, not yourself!" Cynthia cried, which appeared to only confuse the Thorn Pokémon even further.

"And I thought you were good since that Magical Leaf-GrassWhistle combination. But now I see it must have been a fluke, nothing more."

Cynthia whirled to the deadpanned voice and wasn't surprised to meet cold, unfeeling blue eyes. She exhaled heatedly. "What did you do?"

The blonde could have sworn she saw the flickering smirk, but perhaps it was her wild imagination. "Really, you are such a beginner. Don't you know your own Pokémon's moves well enough yet? Even though I myself don't have a Grass-type, even I know the side-effects of Petal Dance."

"What did you say?" Cynthia's words were bitten out. _Seriously. This guy… he's so… _

Sasori lifted one brow, and Cynthia couldn't tell if it was out of either amusement or question at her snapping attitude.

"Petal Dance may be powerful," Cynthia slowly turned towards Steven who spoke in a most sympathetic tone, "but it comes at a price. If it's used a second time in a row, the move almost possesses the Pokémon to use it a third or fourth time, and straight afterwards, the user of Petal Dance will fall victim to Confusion." At Cynthia's puzzled face, Steven carefully explained. "Confusion is a volatile status, one that makes the Pokémon 'confused' within its surroundings. People, places and things are not the same when under the ailment. But, on the bright side, it should only last about a minute – the longest a Pokémon can be affected by this status is four minutes."

"Yeah, but Roselia's going to have fainted by then."

Cynthia whipped her head back to a certain stoic black-haired, blue-eyed boy.

Sasori rolled his long neck, stretching the muscles while rubbing it gently. "Actually never-mind," he flicked his startling blue eyes from Cynthia's steel grays, "Roselia's probably going to faint… during this very minute."

Cynthia furrowed her brows and followed his line of sight. She instantly bit her lip.

Dratini's eyelids squeezed once, crinkling the edges of his eyes, before they fluttered and immediately snapped open. Well, at least one did. The other was still slightly swollen from the previous Petal Dance attacks from – Roselia!

Cynthia quickly skimmed the battleground to find Roselia still blankly grinning at nothing in particular and still on her confused rampage of attacking everywhere and everything. Countless sakura-like rose petals littered the grassy field perhaps two or three metres out from Roselia – a fully coloured circle of pure pink with the occasional strand of grass green.

Yeah. Cynthia still didn't like pink.

"…atini, finish Roselia with Dragon Tail."

Cynthia snapped out of her thoughts instantly as she caught the simple order, but it seemed the Dragon Pokémon was already a step ahead of her. Despite his rather injured physique, the numerous amounts of Agility moves used by Dratini beforehand were still ingrained in his muscles and subsequently, he was able to slide off towards Roselia merely a breath after his trainer intoned his quick command. As the Dragon-type slithered speedily towards Roselia, his tail beginning to glow a bright azure-blue, Cynthia believed she had lost all hope. But then she noticed something: Roselia had stopped releasing Petal Dances and the Thorn Pokémon seemed to have begun blinking – blinking _coherently_, not blankly.

Roselia snapped out of confusion.

Cynthia cheeringly smiled, her mouth wide opened, "Yes! Roselia, hurry and use Extrasensory! Dratini's still far enough away! "

Roselia shook her head from her capricious status and quickly began undertaking Cynthia's orders. Dratini glided in closer at an alarming speed, his tail now a stunning aquamarine blue and his eyes narrowing in determination to defeat her. Roselia's pearl-black eyes blazed up into a sunshine gold light and she repositioned her duel-roses to her front, opens the blue and red petals counter-clockwise. Dratini speeded himself and only absently noticed his glowing tail leaving a small trailing ditch in the grass behind him. Roselia bit her inner cheek as she began to release a multicolored circular beam with white crescents around it at the opponent.

"Dratini, Arrow Formation, tail first."

Cynthia blinked confusedly at him. _Arrow Formation? _"What do you mean by that?"

Sasori cut his brilliant blue-eyes at her, his face returned to its impassive state. He said nothing, but he lightly inclined his chin towards the battle. Cynthia casted her steel grays back, and widened them dramatically.

Dratini had followed Sasori's command and had curled up before springing into the center of the beam, in the very middle, glowing bright-blue tail first. Somehow he had gained enough velocity to leap in arrow straight _through _the Extrasensory beam, like a deadly harpoon. _Arrow Formation! _Cynthia realized.

"Roselia watch –" But it was too late.

Roselia's glowing-gold eyes widened a second after she saw Dratini _in _her rainbow-coloured attack, and before she was able to dodge, it was only a second later Dratini was onto her. The bluish glow from his tail illuminated her shocked expression milliseconds before the tail speared into her face, the impact so strong because of the speed Dratini had gained from Agility and his Arrow Formation.

Cynthia gaped.

Dratini had soared through the fifteen foot beam in merely two seconds, only propelled by his own spring and was able to heavily damage Roselia, who was still flying backwards in the air.

"**Rose-eee-li –**" The Thorn Pokémon was cut off as she landed onto the grassland, stomach first, before her plant-like limbs snapped into the earth with her.

"**Roselia**," the duel-type Grass/Poison Pokémon groaned, before Cynthia noticed the swirls in her eyes. The blonde lowered her brows in worry and quickly ran over to her, finding it quite hard to run in her heels on grass and… tripped.

Lucky for her, she quickly landed in a sitting-knee position, so it kind of looked on purpose. Kind of.

"Are you alright Roselia?" Cynthia scooped up the small Thorn Pokémon in her arms, her worry overriding her current embarrassment.

"**Rose**," Roselia squinted one pearl-black eye back from her fainted state and smiled blushingly, before she winced in pain.

"Roselia is unable to battle. Pokémon trainer Sasori wins the first round!"

Cynthia spun to Steven with a deadly glare.

Steven smiled sheepishly, lowering his neck, "What? I've always wanted to see what it was like to be a ref. Hey, you've got to admit, I sounded pretty professional there."

Cynthia sent him a palpable scowl.

"**Gib, Gible Gib?**"

Cynthia casted her steely gray-eyes to her side, only now noticing the slight tugging of her dress pants, and her frown washed off as Gible craned a smile up at her.

Cynthia returned the inquisitive beam. "Alright. Let's show him what you're made of Gible!"

* * *

**Author's Notes**

**(16/06/12):** Okay, that's it. After I found out that the reason why the Cynthia and Steven pairing is called Lolishotashipping… I have decided to make up a new title. I call it _Blacksteelshipping_ – don't like it, don't care. But I am completely opposed to calling them Lolishota. Look it up on Google if you want, maybe you'll agree with me.

**(PS)**: Some of you reviewers told me that Cynthia's wardrobe made no sense – since she's "wearing it in the game," so why does it still seem brand new? Well, if you guys read it carefully, Cynthia actually isn't wearing what she wears in the game/anime/manga. Her cape-like sweater is not made of leather or fur-trimmed – plus it's not actually that cape like that it's at her ankles (just her thighs or waist or something) or else I would have mentioned that. Plus, her heels don't have any yellow embellishments, and are old, hand-me downs from Lucas's mother. (Maybe I didn't imply it that well…) The only thing that is relatively close to her original garb is her tank top – though her in game one is black, not white like in my story. However, her black dress pants are the same – but all black dress-pants are the same… – and her hair baubles are. Everything else is different.

**(PPS): **Sorry for the late update. This chapter took a while since it's ~9,600 words. So basically, if the chapter's long, the update will be longer. However, if I make the next chapter short (4,000 to 6,000) then the next one will be posted up in a week's time – hopefully.

Oh yeah, could someone give me pointers on how to write battle scenes? This is my first time. Ever.


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